A NEW IRISH documentary crew have discovered evidence that a second chamber may exist in the prehistoric Newgrange monument.
After a nine-day survey of the site in 2022, a team of researchers believe they may have made the biggest discovery about the Co Meath cairn in over fifty years.
Rún na Bóinne (Secret of the Boyne), which aired tonight on TG4, follows a geophysics team from Ireland and Slovakia carrying out non-invasive tests to find out more about the site’s architecture and history.
The results indicate that spaces in the cairn that look like collapsed cavities could have once been extra chambers, similar to the existing chamber, which the cavities are oddly in alignment with.
Neal Boyle, the filmmaker behind the project, said the findings have “given future research a target to consider at Newgrange”.
Newgrange was first excavated in the 1960s, when the winter solstice alignment was rediscovered and the cairn’s decorated kerbstones revealed.
When the monument was dated at over 5,200 years old – older than the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge – it changed the way the ancient world was perceived.
However, Newgrange was never fully excavated and the vast majority of the ancient structure remained untouched.
Boyle commissioned Slovakian geophysicists Prof. Roman Pasteka and his team, as well as Mayo-based archaeological geophysicist Kevin Barton to survey Newgrange using a microgravity survey and geo-radar.
Clues from ancient manuscripts, the landscape, folklore and art were also used to reveal more about the ancient site and the people who developed it.
“What this project and team has done is put some new pieces on the board in our attempt to understand this monument and the culture who built it,” said Boyle.
While there were “no guarantees” of confirming their suspicions of a second chamber, Boyle said the result was “incredible” and “more than we could have hoped to find”.
Each year people across the globe travel to Newgrange to witness the winter solstice, which shines light through the chamber.
The winter solstice is marked annually on 21 December, but this year it will occur on Friday, 22 December at 3.27am.
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