Irish passage graves

by Michael Herity

In 2,500 B.C. a Breton flotilla bore the builders of the passage graves into the Irish Sea. They had navigated from the Gulf of Morbihan and were first attracted by the island of Anglesey and by the Menai Straits, which reminded them of home. It was in the richer lands of Ireland, however, that they finally settled. In the Boyne Valley this dynamic society founded a thriving economy and, within a few generations, built three magnificent tombs, each covering more than an acre. During this time the Boyne Valley township housed several thousand people. Moving inland, they erected three hundred tombs, siting them on the summits of the highest hills. Today, these hilltop tumuli still strike the eye. Later generations arranged their cemeteries around the larger focal graves. They ornamented their monuments with an alphabet of magical symbols, combining them in abstract patterns 'to enhance the impact of the architecture, sometimes representing shadowy human figures, male and female — the god