Historical Monuments Essay -- essays research papers

Historical Monuments When thinking about architecture, many visual images come to mind. The works of many are seen everywhere we go, from the average home to a New York skyscraper. As these buildings are fairly common to most of us, we forget to incorporate the work of our prehistoric man that gave us the foundation of early architecture. Pre-historic monuments provide us with numerous amounts information about our past and how life existed in these prehistoric times. When comparing two great works from ancient times, we will determine the main reason for these buildings as well as rituals that were held and there excavations and discoveries. The passage-tomb at New Grange was constructed around 3200BC, according to archeologist. This makes it older than Egyptian pyramids. New Grange was built only by stones, no metals or other foreign objects were used. This site was rediscovered in 1699. Charles Campbell, landlord at time, instructed his workers to gather some stones and soon enough, the entrance of the chamber was found. Excavations of the passage-tombs began on 1962-1975 by Professor Michael J. O’Kelly and his wife Claire O’Kelly. Each year, on winter solstice, a spectacular occurrence is witnessed as New Grange is illuminated by the sun. At sunrise, around nine o’clock in the morning, the suns strikes the front of New Grange creating a beam of light that stretches into the passage way and into its central chamber. This sun beam illuminates the chamber for a period of around seventeen minutes. It is remarkable how man constructed this tomb precisely to capture the sun every year with merely just s tone technology and no other equipment. According to O’Kelly, he felt the workforce of three hundred was used to create the tomb that took around thirty years to build. The total length of the passage stretches around seventy-nine feet, and is composed of three separate chambers. There is also a great deal of Megalithic Art inside New Grange as well as its sister sites Knowth and Dowth. In fact, in Knowth, nearly every stone is decorated, and the site has been hailed as having the largest collection of megalithic art in all of Europe. Over a quarter of all known megalithic art in Western Europe is at Knowth and its surrounding mounds (http:// mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/newgrange-facts/art.php). The most common categories of art at New Grange are lozeng... ... "stupa." Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Premium Service 16 Feb. 2005 . 2. "Sanchi." Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Premium Service 16 Feb. 2005 . 3. "arts, Central Asian." Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Premium Service 16 Feb. 2005 . 4. â€Å"The Great Stupa of Sanchi† http://rogershepherd.com/WIW/solution12/stupa.html 5. "Buddhism." Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Premium Service 16 Feb. 2005 . 6. â€Å"101 Fact on NewGrange â€Å" http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/newgrange-facts/art.php 7. "Boyne, River." Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Premium Service 16 Feb. 2005 . 8. "Ireland." Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Premium Service 16 Feb. 2005 . 9. "Stone Age." Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Premium Service 16 Feb. 2005 .