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Proving star map is duplicated by Boyne Valley monuments. |
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Noting the damage inflicted on the Dowth mound it would seem that the further East the mounds were sited the greater danger they were in from agricultural vandals. The only other evidence I can put forward for a fourth mound is a reference to the Boyne Valley tombs being plundered by the Vikings in 861or 862AD. The Annals of Ulster states that the foreigners searched the cave of Achadh-Aldai next the cave of Cnodhba after that the cave of Dubaith and finally the cave of Mna Gobhan. The annals of the Four Masters records that the foreigners searched the Fields of Achadh-Aldai in Mugdhorna-breagh next the cave of Cnoghbhai after that the cave of Bodan over Dubaidh and finally the cave of Mna Gobhann .. By cave of course is meant the Passage Graves in the large mounds. Both accounts of the incident are reasonably close.They both start off describing the incident as begining with some monument to Achadh-Aldai.The Annals of Ulster call this monument a Cave while the The Four Masters calls the monument The Field because the word Achadh means Field. As the raiders came by boat this first searched monument must have been ajacent to the river bank. There is a large enclosure right on the river bank which would qualify it as the first monument looted.Newgrange is omitted from the Annals accounts as it was not discovered for another 600 years.. I am going to ignore the account from the Annals of the Four Masters as the account is taken from a prose poem.The thing about prose poems is that they produce a lot of flowery language that is more interested in rhyming and involving other exotic places than being entirely accurate. On the other hand the account of the incident from the Annals of Ulster is short and direct and it is this account that I am going to display on a map of the Boyne Valley . This map will show how the Annals of Ulster described the sequence of the Vikings search of the monuments. Logic would dictate that the first place searched would be South of Knowth and ajacent to the river . There is an enclosure south of Knowth and on the river bank .Nothing is known regarding what was enclosed in this area .The Enclosure is circular and measures 90 Yards across its center.Its size would suggest that it was an important Chiefs residence or Pagan religious center.If my interpretation is correct then Acadh-Aldai was either a Chieftain or a Druid whose residence was looted by the Vikings. See map below for the sequence of Viking searches. |
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On the map I have displayed the monuments mentioned in the Annals and in the sequence that they were searched. The map shows the West Enclosure the monument of Achaid-Aldai described as the first monument looted by the Vikings.. The second monument looted was the Passage Grave Mound of Knowth whose ancient name was Cnoghbai. The third mound described is East of Knowth and is a Passage Grave Mound named Dowth.This mound is named in the Annals as Dubadh. The fourth mound described would be East of Dowth but there is no large Passage Grave anyplace east of Dowth. The only monument east of Dowth and sited on the same ridge is the large Enclosure.The missing mound is discribed as belonging to the Wife of Goban.This title Wife of Goban was a translation error by the original translator of the two Gaelic words Mna Goban.Those two words when correctly translated mean Smith Woman. The sad thing is that several writers have accepted the error without question and compounded the error further by giving a wrong interpretation of a hisorical event. I thought identifying who the Smith Woman was would be a huge task but it turned out to be simple.In Cormac's Glossary there is a reference to an Ephithet for the Pagan goddess Brigit .The Ephithet is contained in two Gaelic words 'Be NGoibnecthea' which means Smith Woman. Converting those two ancient Gaelic words to modern Gaelic they would resemble 'Bean Goiban' which also means Smith Woman. The area adjacent to the monuments was named Breaga which is a form of Brigit.This naming of the area Breaga could indicate that Brigit was the site patron .. I believe I have put forward enough proof that the missing mound in the Boyne Valley belonged to the goddess Brigit. The Annals of Ulster discribes the four mounds starting from West to East as if they were in the same general area and makes a pretty positive case that the present Enclosure contained the fourth mound being discribed by them.
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