Figure 2-3 shows the major megalithic cultural locations in Europe.
Figure 2-3: Megalithic sites in Europe, Reference 61, www.eupedia.com/forum/threads
Several observations are key:
•The Stone and Copper Age cultures were on islands and peninsulas.
•The megalithic cultures expanded inward to the lighter regions, from the sea locations.
•The French (Brittany) cultures connected the west coast of Europe to the Mediterranean Sea.
•The Irish cultures expanded from south and west coasts to the east coast.
•The megalithic cultural regions were strongly correlated with gold and copper locations and the associated ocean trade routes.
Eventually, the seafarers reached the island of Ireland. All peoples who came to Ireland after 6000 BCE came by boat. The needs were the same: find valuable rocks, find a safe harbor, plant gardens (of Eden), and build dry, secured structures (dens) for storage.
Figure 2-4 shows the major Irish megalithic sites, circles, dolmens, and other stone monuments dating back to 5500 BCE.
Figure 2-4: Irish map showing major megalithic sites, Reference 61, author’s annotations
These locations were key locations, having protected bays with fresh river waters feeding the seas. Most of these locations were sites near the gold and copper mines. The northwest locations reflect earlier dates than the eastern sites. The Boyne Valley locations reflect the activity during the peak of the Bronze Age. All sites have observation vistas, mountains and hills, and fertile gardens.
The key Irish locations had harbors located at the confluences of freshwater and the oceans. Freshwater and the seas, eventually, were symbolized as Tethys, goddess of the freshwaters, and her husband, Oceanus, god of the seas. Tethys, as the goddess-wife of the great Earth-encircling River Oceanus, oversaw the rising and setting of the heavenly bodies—the Sun, Moon, Dawn, Starry Constellations, and Clouds. To these individuals, the earth surely was not flat.
During the Stone Age, the major megalithic sites were in northwest Ireland around the Donegal Bay area of Sligo and Donegal. The primary sites were Carrowmore, Carrowkeel, and Knocknarea. Carbon-dating of several stone cairns at Carrowmore indicates a date of 5500 BCE. The site appears to have been quite active from the late Stone Age to the Early Bronze Age, 4500 to 3500 BCE. This was the location of the major gold mining in Ireland (see Figure 1-3). The trade routes came from the south—but also from the north. By 2000 BCE, the copper routes were coming from North America through the west coast of Ireland. These North American copper routes are highlighted in Chapter 11.
The most prominent megalithic site was in Eastern Ireland, the Boyne Valley: Dowth, Knowth, and Newgrange mounds. The safe harbor was at Howth, just north of Dublin by the little island called the “eye of Dublin.” The copper mines were located in Southwestern Ireland, Ross Island, and Southeastern Ireland in the Wicklow Mountains, also the site for white quartz. The white quartz was transported to Newgrange and was built into the outside walls of Newgrange. This is similar to the “white walled” city of Memphis on the Nile River.
The Irish gardens had many stones that needed clearing so that planting could occur. The stones were used for partitions, walls, forts, and storage as well as the more creative uses for calendars, navigation, and astronomical purposes. Two observations were made by the seafarers coming to Ireland: there were a lot of stones, and there were many rainbows. Combining the observations led to the need for mounds. The stones were for construction, and the covered stones in the form of mounds were used for dry storage.
Domes were not built in a day.
Mounds/domes were built at some key location close to gardens (of Eden) and glacier deposits.
Stones were found in abundance in Ireland, which led to many stone circles. Stones were used for the ringed forts. The greatest stone architecture was found in the beehive huts—houses completely dry for thousands of years. Most of the stone structures were on the west coast of Ireland: Skellig Michael Island, Dingle Peninsula, Galway, the Aran Islands, and the Donegal Bay area. This construction was much later in time, but it was related to the evolving trade routes.
Mounds were built encasing stone structures and had several design phases:
•Phase 1: Stone circles marking celestial events had key shadow axes for north, south, east, and west (N/S/E/W), and the winter and summer solstices were constructed. The axes became the locations of the passageways for the domes. The stone circles were designed for astronomical observations and for congregating on special events. Vast regions, similar to Carrowmore, had hundreds of these stone structures.
•Phase 2: The people also observed rainbows after they got very wet. The grains and fruit also got wet. So the stone circles had passageways with roofs built. Separate rooms were built for various storage needs. As the community grew, more structures were needed, having different purposes.
•Phase 3: The structures had entrances and passageways built. Roofs were installed. The stone structures were then encased with dirt. The dome was built.
•Phase 4: Stones were placed around the domes and became known as kerbstones. White quartz was used to cover outside mound walls—the Newgrange Mound.
On some occasions, the original stone circle may have been left intact, with the mound built inside.
Basins and baskets and jars provided the vessels for the processing and storage of grains and crushed rocks of value.
Stones were carved with symbols throughout time. These were collected and placed around the dome mounds.
A dome from ground level is an ARC, but from above, it is a circle.
The purpose for the mounds and the mound designs can be better understood by reviewing the meanings of several Nile River Dynasty hieroglyphics.
Basic Nile River Dynasty Symbols
Combining the basic symbols forms other symbols.
The circle and the axis forms the symbol for copper: This is also the symbol for Venus. This shape evolved into what is called an ankh.
Ankh is the symbol for life and is a combination of the tree of life, similar to the Greek letter rho, and the axis. The shape of the top oval evolved to an actual rose petal and represents Venus (goddess). The becomes a symbol for the axis, which relates to latitudes created by the sun (god’s) shadow. Thus, the golden ankh is the combination of god and goddess—or man and woman—hence life. The ankh was used for navigation purposes; this is described in Chapter 7.
The ring cross is a symbol to congregate at a key location marked by the
The ring cross becomes the symbol of the high stone crosses of Ireland. But in the celestial navigation (Chapter 7), the ring cross is the Northern Cross.
Combining the symbols for a ring cross and a house forms what was called by the Nile River dynasties a per ankh, a meeting place of high importance.
Combining the symbol for life, the ankh, with the symbol for a house is also a per ankh and represents a library or a hospital. These two per ankh symbols are the key design structures for the Irish mounds and will be decoded in depth in Chapter 9.
The evolution of the above symbols is found in Appendix A and is the basis for today’s symbols for a hospital and the use of “Rx” for a pharmacy.
Per Ankh:
The per ankh is a significant concept in Nile River Dynasty cultural development with the following attributes:
•House of life
•House of Thoth, the patron god of physicians
•Conferred as approbation on a ferryman who had managed a safe crossing
•Thoth was also the god of knowledge and writing
•Hospital
•Library (or a scriptorium)
One book found in a per ankh was the Decree of Canopus. Line 37 in this book was “carved on a block of stone or metal…writing of the Far Islands.” The star, Canopus, played an enormous navigation role for the seafarers in the Bronze Age and is still used in spacecraft navigation today. This will be described in detail in Ch
apter 8.
There were many gardens (of Eden) around the Nile as various dynasties established their kingdoms over time. In the land of the Nubians, there was the island of Meroe. In the Aswan Lake area, there was Elephantine Island. In the Giza Pyramid area, there were Memphis and Saqqara. In the Nile Delta area, there was not only Canopus, a major harbor, but Goshen, a fertile region on the Delta. In these locations, great stone structures were built, as well as great temples. The great Library at Alexandria is an example of a per ankh. The first city of ancient Egypt was Memphis, meaning “white wall.”
To summarize, the above Nile River Dynasty glyphs for the per ankhs (e.g., libraries, and hospitals) represented a structure with passageways.
The major mounds in Ireland have the same per ankh structures, and these mounds will be decoded in Chapter 9. One of the functions of a per ankh is a repository of kerbstones: a library. The Boyne Valley mounds are the greatest libraries in the megalithic world. The per ankh mounds of Ireland were houses of life. The placement of the kerbstones around the mounds may represent Irish locations where the symbols on the kerbstones are relevant.
Rainbows
A rainbow has three key parts: the color arc (from the sun’s light being diffracted), the rain (freshwater acting as a crystal prism), and the two ends, usually on land. The “somewhere” indicates a trip from a known location to, maybe, a secret location. Myths can even indicate a “pot of gold” (basket, basin, jar) at the end.
Seafarers went to the ends of the rainbows. They brought the seeds in pottery jars for gardens. They searched for gold and copper. They found safe harbors, planted their gardens, and then returned home to the customers who sponsored the trip. Nowhere are there as many rainbows as in Ireland. The rainbow indicates the calm after the storm: the order after chaos. The seafarers carved symbols of navigation information into the stones.
Hundreds of kerbstones surround the mounds, line the mounds’ passageways, and line the walls and ceilings of the great mounds/domes of Ireland. These kerbstone collections represent a library of Irish calendar and navigation information. They are the largest collection of megalithic-coded information in the world. Chapters 8 and 9 will decode the Irish symbols on the stones and the mounds, respectively.
Conclusions
Somewhere over a rainbow begins in the Isle of Meroe in the golden land of Nubia, and it ends in the golden land of the island of Ireland, where the symbols for water ripples represent the oceans and seas. The ancient seafarers made the trip, referred to in this book as the “Harp Trip”, possible. The kerbstones will indicate how, as we shall see in Chapter 8.
As Michael Slavin begins in The Book of Tara, Tara’s story is Ireland’s story. “Tara’s symbols are Ireland’s symbols: the harp, the shamrock, the ancient gold” (Reference 48). Figure 2-6 shows these symbols.
Figure 2-6: Today’s notable Irish Symbols, Reference 61
Rain becomes flowing streams and rivers of freshwater flowing to the oceans.
In the beginning:
emerged, and gardens were grown. Major cultures emerged from these gardens of Eden, where freshwater flowed into salt water. The delta areas were refreshed with the yearly floods being soil-rich in nutrients. The seafarers ventured out from the deltas for gold and copper explorations.
The basic seafarer’s questions still are
Where am I? Ireland
Where am I going? To return to the customers
Why am I going? Valuable rocks, gold, and copper
How will I get there? Boat
How long will it take? Three years: one to travel, one to plant, and one to return
Will I, or someone, return? Yes, there is value in Ireland.
So, who were these seafarers?
• • •
Chapter 3:
WHO: The Invaders of Ireland
All peoples, tribes, and invaders who came to Ireland arrived on boats. Those who departed Ireland also left on boats. This is an obvious statement, but it has significance in understanding the symbols they designed or replicated from past experiences. The symbols were carved onto the stones, kerbstones, and were designed into the stone structures, circles, dolmens, and mounds—the per ankhs of Ireland.
If the seafarers came to Ireland and never departed, then oral traditions would be sufficient to pass key information from generation to generation. No, there was a need to have symbols. The major symbols of Ireland now are the harp, shamrock, and gold. The harp was thought to be David’s harp; the shamrock represented the trispiral symbol of Newgrange; and the gold was easily available throughout Ireland, as discussed in Chapter 1.
This chapter will briefly describe the invaders of Ireland, BCE and CE, and the symbols they created. Over time, the shapes and meanings of the symbols evolved. The symbols of reality became myth, math, metaphor, and music, depending on the invaders’ usage of the symbols.
BCE-Invading Seafarers
Irish mythology has no creation myth that explains how things came into being. This may indicate that the peoples who came to Ireland had creation myths from their locations of origin, and there was no need to recreate the beginning, particularly if these seafarers were coming and going. The world—or more specifically, Ireland—was always there. Irish mythology states that before the Celts, there were a number of waves of invaders. The invasions led to events that became known as the Celtic Age. Each had a profound effect on the land. The successive groups of invaders are said to have arrived in Ireland before the present-day Gaels arrived. The invaders were known by either the name of their leaders or by their races.
Figure 3-1 shows the trade routes connecting the megalithic cultures.
Figure 3-1: Megalithic sites of Western Europe, showing major trade routes, author’s annotations
No matter from which direction the invaders came, Ireland was the center of their explorations. The initial route was from the Strait of Gilbraltar to northwest Spain, Galicia, and then to Ireland. The second route connected southwest France, Occitania, with the northwest corner of France, Brittany. The third route went from Denmark to the Orkney Islands and then to Ireland from the north. The fourth route eventually connected the northwest corner of Ireland and North America.
This chapter introduces the major invaders from mythology and several other generic groups existing at the time between 3200 BCE and 1000 BCE. They may have had influence on the classically known invaders because they were known for their seafaring capability. These generic groups have symbols that are similar to the Irish symbols. (The dates associated with the invaders were from Reference 48.) Other dates used in this book come from data having the oldest carbon dating found at these megalithic sites as recorded by Wikipedia.
Every attempt has been made to place the invaders in the correct order. The sequence of invasions should be correct. The importance to this book is that all invaders to Ireland were seafarers. The seafaring questions are the same for each invader:
Where am I? Ireland
Where am I going? Returning to home port/harbor
Why am I going? Supplier of metals, gold
How will I get there? Boat
How long will it take? One sailing year in each direction
Will I, or someone, return? Maybe, yes.
The following brief description of the invaders of Ireland emphasizes the seafaring aspects of the invaders. The description is preserved in the myths associated with each invader.
4000 BCE, Stone Age Fomorians
The Fomorians were a race of giants, who, according to the folklore of Ireland, frequented riverbanks, lakes, and the seashore. They may have come to Ireland as early as 6000 BCE, but some historians believe that they came much later. Because the invaders came and went, both alternatives may be correct. Their stronghold was on Tory Island, off the northwest coast of Ireland.
Other legends state that the Fomorians were mysterious African sea rovers and gloomy sea giants who brought their skills from Africa via Spain. The Fomorians had a reputation
of being sea pirates, and the muire part of the name may mean “sea” and the fo part may mean “under/below.” Metaphorically, they were spirits from the underworld, a metaphor for the West. They are mentioned throughout the ancient history of Ireland, waiting to grasp and to fight.
The northwest coast of Ireland was a key location for all of the trade routes as well as the location of major gold sites and megalithic stone structures around Donegal Bay. Since the Fomorians came by boat, from a seafaring perspective, they came, left, and returned many times. Were they suppliers or customers for the metal trading?
3500 BCE, Gold Nubians
There are indications that the Nubians from the upper Nile Valley got to Ireland around this time. They surely sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar and went south. They could have gone north as part of the African sea rovers.
They are mentioned here for they had the seafaring knowledge to make a trip from the Isle of Meroe to the emerald island of Ireland. The Book of the Taking of Ireland (Reference 34) specifically mentions trips from the Isle of Meroe to Ireland.
If the Fomorians came from Africa, how did they relate to the Nubian seafarers who were probably the only sailors capable of this long-distance navigation? Nubians were the metallurgists with gold, copper, and iron making their specialty and were centered around the Isle of Meroe. During the Iron Age Egypt was referred to as an “iron furnace.”
3200 BCE
The great Boyne Valley mounds began their construction. The kerbstones were being carved. The seafarers, who got to Ireland at this time, had to have on board the intellectual and manufacturing capability for this effort.
3000 BCE, Grooved Ware People
A Seafarer's Decoding of the Irish Symbols Page 3