A VAST SYSTEM:

Because the passage of Newgrange points to Fourknocks, we could see that both mounds acted in unity as an astronomical construction, assembled to point out a significant star and constellation. At that moment, as the ancient skies were recreated before my eyes, and I saw for the first time the system as it was designed to work, I was struck with a breathtaking realisation, a revelation of ancient cosmological expertise, and the vision of a crowning achievement of an adept and capable people.

Now we saw a complete system, encompassing 5,000-year-old ancient stone sites, aligned on, and in the case of Newgrange, shaped like, what has been seen by many cultures as a significant and recognisable star pattern, and all of this recorded cryptically in ancient mythology - a story which came to us from the distant and mysterious past.

Whooper Swans in flight near Newgrange.

The second significance of Deneb relates to its precessional importance. Throughout the entire 26,000 cycle of precession, Deneb remains mostly a circumpolar object, never setting below the horizon and being visible to observers at this latitude every night of the year.

But interestingly in the epoch 3000 to 2500BC, Deneb is at its lowest point in the entire precessional cycle. At this time it grazes the horizon, and just about sets below the horizon at Due north briefly during this time, before rising again to remain visible to those who would wish to watch the star.

The fact that Deneb marks the location of the below-horizon winter solstice sun is of major significance to our idea that the passage of Newgrange was laid out to resemble the shape of Cygnus. The fact that this Cygnus-shaped passage points to Fourknocks gives us an indication that Fourknocks is part of the master plan. With Deneb being the only bright star to enter Fourknocks' window of visibility, we begin to see the real meaning of the alignments.

The precessional aspect of our theory is open to debate, as the evidence here seems coincidental. However, the Fourknocks-Deneb alignment cannot be seen as coincidental in light of the Newgrange-Cygnus connection. In any case, there is further circumstantial evidence which suggests that the ancients did have knowledge of the precessional cycle. One such example is the heliacal rising of the Pleiades.

The Pleiades are mentioned in the legend about how Dowth came about - a bull and seven cows. Interestingly, the circular symbols on kerbstone 51 at Dowth, which appear to feature rayed stars contained within circles, echo the symbol used in Egyptian heiroglyphs which was used for a heliacal rising - a star contained within a circle. This symbol is present also in the Dogon tribe who used it for the same meaning.

Heliacal risings are important if one is engaged in the measurement of the precessional cycle. It takes many years of patient observing, along with a detailed note of observations, to perceive the presence of precession. It takes 72 years for the sun to move westwards by one degree along the ecliptic at Spring Equinox. But if rising points are marked by specific stones, then time will betray precession. Taurus, or at least a bull, is important in mythology - Tain Bo Cuailnge being the brown bull of Cooley. The bull is, as mentioned, important to the Dowth creation myth, and also at the burial place of Amergin at Millmount in Drogheda, from which the area called 'Black Bull' is located to the east. And Taurus is astronomically important too, housing the sun on the Spring Equinox, and therefore defining the "Age of Taurus".