Prehistoric Ireland: Newgrange

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An astonishing ancient tomb is Ireland's most famous prehistoric monument; Newgrange. Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Muiris O’Sullivan, an expert on the many Stone Age monuments of Ireland, including Newgrange, and they revel in the astonishing construction techniques used by ancient builders over 5,000 years ago and the intricate rock art such as the triple spiral, which has an intriguing backstory.

Archeology is slowly revealing the people who built this fascinating structure, their use of sacred landscapes, and the DNA evidence linking them to other Stone Age communities.

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Nick Thomson, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:08.1	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabatans, and enjoy a new release every week.
0:19.3	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. Deep in the verdant countryside, overlooking a sacred river, stands Ireland's most famous prehistoric monument.
0:50.7	An enormous tomb made of stone and earth built more than 5,000 years ago.
0:57.2	This stunning tomb lies at the heart of a special landscape known as Bruna Boyne,
1:02.4	the poster monument in a valley of Stone Age marvels.
1:06.3	Its name is New Grange.
1:16.0	It's The Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host.
1:22.9	Today we're exploring this wonder of the Stone Age world, that is New Grange. There is still lots of mystery surrounding this massive passage tomb that has endured for five millennia.
1:28.2	But thanks to the tireless work of archaeologists over the past decades, well, many of
1:33.2	New Grange's astonishing secrets have started to be revealed. It is a fascinating structure
1:39.2	situated at the heart of an equally fascinating landscape of the utmost prehistoric importance.
1:46.4	And it's also the subject of a brand new documentary presented by myself that has just
1:51.8	dropped on history hit. It's called Prehistoric Island Secrets of the Stone Age. So do check
1:58.3	that out if you want after listening to this episode.
2:02.1	Our guest for this episode is Dr. Murrish O'Sullivan, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at
2:07.4	University College Dublin.
2:09.7	Murrish is an expert on the many Stone Age monuments of Ireland, including New Grange.
2:15.2	He also features in our new documentary on the subject,
2:18.3	so it felt right to have him on as our expert
2:20.5	for this accompanying ancients episode.
2:24.2	The story of New Grange is one of stones and spirituality,
	...

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