What Lies Beneath: The Hidden Archaeology of the Newgrange Landscape

Описание: The speaker's discovery, using a drone, of a giant previously unrecorded monument close to Newgrange during a summer drought in 2018 (dubbed 'Dronehenge') was the catalyst for further study of the 'hidden' archaeology of the Newgrange townland and the wider Brú na Bóinne landscape. Anthony has discovered around 250 previously unknown monuments and archaeological features in drought-era satellite imagery all across eastern Ireland, and has made several significant finds with his drone since 2018, including multiple dugout boats in the River Boyne at Drogheda, and more recently a prehistoric ceremonial enclosure measuring over 100m in diameter in the Fourknocks prehistoric landscape. In his presentation, Anthony will highlight many of the hidden or subsurface features that have shown up in drought aerial photographic reconaissance in the Newgrange townland, and will briefly discuss how he believes some of these archaeological remnants are mentioned in the myths and legends associated with Brú na Bóinne.

BIO:
Anthony Murphy is an author, journalist, photographer, citizen archaeologist and astronomer who has published ten books about the ancient monuments of Ireland and their associated myths and legends and astronomical alignments. He has curated the Mythical Ireland website (www.mythicalireland.com) since the year 2000, and runs associated social media channels. He hosts a weekly livestream called Live Irish Myths. In 2018, he discovered the subsurface remnants of what is likely to be a Late Neolithic Timber Henge close to Newgrange, dubbed 'Dronehenge. In 2021, he found a number of ancient dugout boats in the River Boyne in Drogheda. He has also found several hundred previously unrecorded monuments in satellite imagery of Ireland on Google Earth and Apple Maps. He lives in Drogheda with his wife Ann and their five children.