Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Ancient monument aligned to sun

An archaeologist has discovered that the passage into a burial mound on Anglesey was built to catch the rising sun on the summer solstice. _41770016_tomb300.jpgSteve Burrow said he was "elated" when the sun filtered in through trees as he sat in the Bryn Celli Ddu chamber.
He made the discovery as he researched a book about burial tombs in Wales from 4,000-3,000 BC.


Carbon dating on the site has also revealed it may contain the oldest building in Wales.


Mr Burrow, the curator of Neolithic archaeology at the National Museum of Wales, said he had to visit the site twice before his discovery. ... "The emotion of seeing something that was put there deliberately 5,000 years ago was amazing," he said. ...


Testing has discovered that post holes outside the entrance to the chamber are 3,000 years older than the tomb itself.


This could point to the site having the remains of the oldest building in Wales, added Mr Burrow. -bbc



_41770070_tombsun203.jpg

No comments: