To try to get an impression of how old Newgrange is: if we start from today and go back to the heyday of the Babylonian empire of King Nebuchadnezzar - we need to go back the same length of time again to find the beginning of Newgrange 3200BC #Newgrange

If your ancestor was one of the people who built Newgrange, she would be your great, great, great ....... grandmother X 200 greats #Newgrange

The building of Newgrange was a massive undertaking in terms of complexity and labour. The first thing that needed to be done was to choose a site. Overlooking the Boyne was no accident - the River of the Cow Goddess (Boinne) of later times hints at her antiquity #Newgrange

Having found the site, a ground plan was laid out. By who? A king, a priest - definitely an engineer, this requires precise calculations. The rising sun at the solstice illuminates the back wall of the chamber -700 years before the pyramid of Giza #Newgrange

They built the passage & chamber first - erecting massive stones to define the passage walls. Some of the stones weigh up to 10 tonnes - remember, this is the Neolithic - no metal tools - if you want to dig up the massive stones, your pickaxe is a deer antler #Newgrange