History of Newgrange

None of the structural slabs were quarried, for they show signs of having been naturally weathered, but they must have been collected and then transported somehow largely uphill to the Newgrange site. Meanwhile, the stones used for the cairn, which together would have weighed around 200,000 tonnes, were likely taken from the river terraces between Newgrange and the Boyne, and there is indeed a large pond in this area which it has been speculated was the site quarried out by Newgrange’s builders to use for material for the cairn. Professor Frank Mitchell suggested that the monument could have been built within a space of five years, basing his estimation upon the likely number of local inhabitants during the Neolithic and the amount of time they would have devoted to building it rather than farming. This estimate was however criticised by M.J. O’Kelly and his archaeological team, who believed that it would have taken thirty years to build at the very least.

Excavations have revealed deposits of both burnt and unburnt human bone in the passage, indicating human corpses were indeed placed