Mound of the Hostages

The Mound of the Hostages (Irish: Dumha na nGiall) is an ancient passage tomb located in the Tara-Skryne Valley in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland. The mound is a Neolithic structure, built between 3350 and 2800 BC. It is circular in form, roughly 15 metres in diameter and three metres high. It is built in the same style as the Newgrange tomb. The structure is dome-shaped with an inset for the entrance and a small doorway, set almost one metre into the side of the monument. The doorway is framed with undecorated standing stones. As is common in passage tombs, this alignment allows for the rising sun to shine down the passageway at only two times of the year, illuminating the chamber within. At this mound, the passage is illuminated on the mornings of Samhain and Imbolc, at the beginning of November and February, respectively. Inside, the passage into the Mound of the Hostages stretches for four metres in length, one metre in width, and is 1.8 metres high. It contains decorated siltstones with images of swirls, circles, and x-patterns—designs associated with Neolithic passage tomb art. Three compartments once housed buried remains. The mound was used for burials from the early Neolithic up to 1600-1700 BC. There are an estimated 250-500 bodies buried in the mound, organised into layers under the passage. The dead were most often cremated, and their ashes and grave goods spread o

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