Yeah, they have it somewhat wrong. Samhain (Halloween) is the start of the Celtic year. But you can't really expect people who dress up and play a pipe with little if any connection to anything at all to have a grasp of the finer points, or frankly any point at all of the Megalithic era. :-)
Thanks for that link. I hadn't found that in my searching and all the other sites I visited just said they were excavating the tunnel. I just couldn't think of any reason ancients would dig a tunnel without a purpose.
It's a tunnel in the sense of a hallway is a tunnel. The orthostats are set into sockets with perhaps 10-15% below the surface. So it you imagine them two by two to the chamber, which is in the shape of a cross. All then capped. But the tomb part comes when the soil is brought up about the stones. So it's more like a pyramid than a current day grave.
New Year being the Winter Solstice?
ReplyDeleteYeah, they have it somewhat wrong. Samhain (Halloween) is the start of the Celtic year. But you can't really expect people who dress up and play a pipe with little if any connection to anything at all to have a grasp of the finer points, or frankly any point at all of the Megalithic era. :-)
DeleteHave they found any artifacts in their excavations?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.excavations.ie/report/2010/Kilkenny/0021635/
DeleteThanks for that link. I hadn't found that in my searching and all the other sites I visited just said they were excavating the tunnel. I just couldn't think of any reason ancients would dig a tunnel without a purpose.
ReplyDeleteIt's a tunnel in the sense of a hallway is a tunnel. The orthostats are set into sockets with perhaps 10-15% below the surface. So it you imagine them two by two to the chamber, which is in the shape of a cross. All then capped. But the tomb part comes when the soil is brought up about the stones. So it's more like a pyramid than a current day grave.
Delete