A tomb is not usually considered a great tourist destination unless you're from New Orleans, which I am, but Ireland has one of the most famous tombs in the world at Newgrange. This Neolithic artifact is sunk into a mound, thickly decorated on the interior with spirals and iconography. But the weirdest, most interesting thing about this tomb is that every year, on five mornings surrounding the winter solstice, a single shaft of sunlight pierces the mound right to the center and lights up the interior, which otherwise never sees sunlight.

This tomb was built by the prehistoric peoples of Ireland, which does cover a bit more time there as the populace didn't write things down until Christianity came along. The question is, though, how on earth did a bunch of people who certainly did not have computers, CAD/CAM programs, or cranes build a tomb that has lasted this long with such precise engineering as to catch that one ray of light? Obviously they did, so obviously there was someone back then with an incredible mind for engineering with string and boards, but how?

While we may never know the answer to that particular question, the tomb still stands in Ireland today, drawing people from all over the world to see the inscriptions, artwork, and of course, the famous illumination.

Posted by Loni.