Crop circle reveals ancient ‘henge’ monument buried in Ireland

https://globalnews.ca/news/4329755/henge-crop-circle-monument-ireland-farmer-field/

by rmason • 8 years ago

124 34 8 years ago

oblosys• 8 years ago

Looks like this is the location on Google Maps: https://www.google.nl/maps/@53.6885648,-6.4832216,763m/data=...

shagie• 8 years ago

While it could be my eyes playing tricks on me, the not stone circle one that is further away looks like it can be seen in the sheep field and the field beyond. Though it could also be my eyes playing tricks and finding patterns that I expect to be there.

jccooper• 8 years ago

"Henge" meaning "big round structure of unknown function with ditch on the inside of a bank."

Several sites are presented, in close proximity. At least one appears to be mostly earthwork, and could be a classic "henge". In the most interesting one, I see no evidence of ditch or bank, just postholes and trenches in concentric circles. This one may be a large circular building. Of course, crop marks provide fairly limited information.

baking• 8 years ago

The use of the word 'henge' in the title is probably fine because it includes the meaning "Neolithic earthwork" but 'crop circle' and 'monument' are just journalistic click-bait.

garmaine2• 8 years ago

Nit, but we know pretty well what the Neolithic structures were for now. It used to be the case that hey were a mystery.

Something1234• 8 years ago

So what were they used for? I thought it was still a mystery.

shakna2• 8 years ago

I wasn't aware we'd moved beyond:

a) Probably ritualistic site, of unknown purpose

b) Possible astronomical site

Which would still classify as mysterious to most. Has there been some breakthrough?

jacknews• 8 years ago

That looks extremely circular. I'm not sure the association with "crop circles" aids credibility.

raverbashing• 8 years ago

This discovery was possible by the current draught conditions in Ireland that's close to reaching the 1 month mark without rain (which in Ireland's terms is as rare as rain in the desert, if not rarer)

NegativeLatency2• 8 years ago

It’s also been much wetter there during the spring. Been a problem for the local bee populations.

_ks3e• 8 years ago

Davis says the buried structure caused the drought-stricken plants above ground to ripen at different rates, because the earth was deeper in some places than in others. This created a green-and-brown pattern in the plants that corresponded to the buried ruins.

Can someone please explain why this is the case? Is it because plants try to grow their roots deeper during droughts in order to access water that can't be obtained at the surface?

dnag• 8 years ago

Assuming the round circle was built of stones, plants growing over stones tend to develop stronger, more entangled roots. These plants become hardy than similar species of plants growing nearby over loose soil. Rock crevices also tend to accumulate water which these plants should be able to use when other adjoining plants are dying. I think this is the reason why the circle became apparent during this drought.

masklinn• 8 years ago

Considering the wording, I'd expect the plants simply shoot their roots as deep and wide as they can, since those above stone can't sink theirs as far as the others they get less access to water and nutrient and thus mature slower for lack of resources. So they're still green while the others are already past that point.

meritt• 8 years ago

If the markings were formerly large wooden posts, those would have decomposed over time and the enriched organic matter simply retains more moisture.

Separately, if they had dug trenches and lined with clay or something that retains water, it would still retain more water today. But as these markings are separated, I think it's more likely the first.

NegativeLatency2• 8 years ago

Even unlined trenches do this, because the underlying soil holds less moisture than to topsoil. Dig a trench, wait a long time, and smooth it out and you’ll end up with an area where the trench was with better soil.

dvtv75• 8 years ago

This may help:

http://www.pastperfect.org.uk/archaeology/parchmarks.html

knolan4• 8 years ago

The article starts with:

U.K. archeologists are crediting...

And spends the rest of the article citing a researcher from University College Dublin.

Ireland is not part of the U.K.

goldenkey• 8 years ago

Northern Ireland is a part of the UK

SOLAR_FIELDS• 8 years ago

Dublin, however, is not part of Northern Ireland.

knolan4• 8 years ago

Nothing in the article is about Northern Ireland.

teh_klev2• 8 years ago

County Meath (where the "henge" was discovered) is in the Republic of Ireland...which is not Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a province within the UK created after the partition of Ireland the landmass in 1921.

Dublin is in the Republic of Ireland and the capital city.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Meath

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Ireland

ascorbic• 8 years ago

a researcher from University College Dublin.

...who is British.

(Though I still think saying "U.K. archeologists" was a mistake)

INTPenis• 8 years ago

Interesting how there's also one of those little islands in the same field. Don't know what they're called but I've seen enough Time Team to know they sometimes hide archaeological treasure. Something either too cumbersome to move or something marked for preservation.

Either way britain feels like a giant trove of discovery when you pay some attention to popular archaeology.

knolan4• 8 years ago

Sorry to keep banging the drum, this is an article about Ireland, not Britain.

This constant confusion is really annoying for Irish people.

DanBC• 8 years ago

Sadly, there's so much of it in Britain[1] that we allow some of it to be destroyed. See, for example, this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11094744#11098678

[1] The article is about Ireland, not Britain.

JdeBP• 8 years ago

This is of course Éire, not the U.K.. But the same is going on in the U.K. too.

* https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44746447 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17489990)

* https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44806069

* https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-4...

Things submerged under reservoirs are becoming temporarily accessible, as well.

* https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-44771632

* https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-4476...

Anthony-G• 8 years ago

The article content isn’t too bad but having “crop circle” in the headline is ridiculous when the phenomenon of crop circles has nothing to do with the subject of the article. In addition, the article itself starts off with some mis-leading information.

It begins by implicitly indicating that “U.K. archeologists” were involved in the discovery (discussed in other comments). It also states that it was “drone enthusiasts” who captured the image in the first place. In fact, the drone belonged to an Irish historian, Anthony Murphy, who lives in the area and has been researching, recording images of and writing about the Boyne Valley monuments for the past two decades – so not just a random drone enthusiast. After making his discovery, he reported it to the National Monuments Service, an organisation that is part of the Republic of Ireland’s Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

The coverage by the Irish Times is much better than the linked article:

* Initial report: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/scorched-earth-d...

* Follow-up article: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/newgrange-more-u...

Further background on Anthony Murphy: https://www.mythicalireland.com/about/about-anthony-murphy/

throwawaybla111• 8 years ago

crop circles: or does it??

The archeologist studied at Reading and Sheffield so probably from the UK. He is only one archeologist so unless there are only hiring foreigners probably better to say British and Irish. You never hear UK and Irish because of the north. Maybe UK and Irish of the Republic archeologists?

It's gets interesting alright. I am getting a sense now that the "South of Ireland" thing only exists because it's impolite to talk about Republics too much in Britain. It can be great to pointing out the most northernly point in Ireland is in "the south".

Crop circle reveals ancient ‘henge’ monument buried in Ireland

Related Stories