
Crop circle reveals ancient ‘henge’ monument buried in Ireland - rmason
https://globalnews.ca/news/4329755/henge-crop-circle-monument-ireland-farmer-field/
======
Anthony-G
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...](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/scorched-earth-during-heatwave-reveals-new-monument-at-newgrange-1.3561326)

* Follow-up article: [https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/newgrange-more-u...](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/newgrange-more-unparalleled-prehistoric-sites-discovered-1.3565502)

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

~~~
throwawaybla111
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".

------
jccooper
"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.

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

~~~
garmaine
Celestial clocks for telling the seasons, and locations for convergent
gatherings ever X seasons. The megalithic stone structures at least. The
smaller but more numerous wooden pole circles (horseshoe shaped really) were
centers of local villages, the Neolithic equivalent of a fort or medieval
castle.

~~~
shakna
Unless you can produce a very strong source that those solutions are now
considered universally to be true, I don't think you can say that to be
definitely so.

Firstly, looking at the actual henge, though the defence hypothesis is strong,
there are several henges throughout the UK that lack the defensive
structuring, but still take the right form, making it at least partly
unlikely. Secondly, they seem to have been built away from population areas.
Whilst a strong theory, it hasn't solved those problems, and so other
solutions hold equal weight.

Secondly, the celestial clock theory is actually fairly weak. Only about half
of the henges featuring large stonework actually line up with astronomical
events, even when modeled for the timelines we think they were put in place
for. Some might be reasoned to track stars, some mountains, and so on. It
doesn't quite fit, especially as their north-offsets are very consistent.

You have some theories, which are popular theories, but so far as I'm aware,
there are other equally popular theories held by the people in the field, and
this isn't considered to be 'solved'.

------
raverbashing
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)

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

------
oblosys
Looks like this is the location on Google Maps:
[https://www.google.nl/maps/@53.6885648,-6.4832216,763m/data=...](https://www.google.nl/maps/@53.6885648,-6.4832216,763m/data=!3m1!1e3)

~~~
shagie
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.

------
knolan
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
Northern Ireland is a part of the UK

~~~
teh_klev
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/County_Meath)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Ireland)

~~~
greglindahl
Thanks for being clear about the Republic of Ireland vs the landmass, unlike
knolan!

~~~
knolan
You may find this useful.
[https://youtu.be/rNu8XDBSn10](https://youtu.be/rNu8XDBSn10)

~~~
greglindahl
Posting youtube links without explaining why anyone should watch them is not
considered useful by most HN people. I looked at the start, and it didn't seem
useful for the issue at hand, which (to me) is that the Republic of Ireland
and the landmass named Ireland are two different things.

The Republic of Ireland doesn't include Northern Ireland, which is part of the
United Kingdom.

The landmass named Ireland does.

I'm surprised to see that you are still missing that, but, ok, as an American
maybe I'm not really understanding what's going on.

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

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44806069](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44806069)

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-4...](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-44812713)

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-england-devon-44771632)

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-4476...](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-44767269)

------
_ks3e
_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
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
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.

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INTPenis
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.

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

This constant confusion is really annoying for Irish people.

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

