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Aspects of Ritual Deposition in the Late Neolithic and Beaker Periods at Newgrange, Co. Meath

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Charles Mount
Charles Mount*
Affiliation:
18 Fox Hill, Wheaten Hall, Drogheda, Co. Louth
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Abstract

The passage tomb at Newgrange served as a focus of ceremonial activity in the Late Neolithic and Beaker periods. A complex of monuments was constructed around the mound, consisting of a timber circle or woodhenge to the south-east and a smaller, possibly roofed, timber circle to the west; an enclosing bank constructed along the southern and western sides, and a free-standing circle of great stones encircling the monument. In this paper the view that the faunal and material remains from the Newgrange excavations are domestic refuse is questioned. The deposition and spatial patterning of the faunal material is interpreted as having a ritual significance and the use of this material as representative of the Late Neolithic/Beaker period economy is rejected

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , 1994 , pp. 433 - 443
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1994

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References

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