Orbs... of pollen

[thrashattack]

Here's a picture that I took the other day at "The mound of the Hostages" on the hill of Tara, County Meath here in Ireland. Its the inside of an ancient burial mound that was later used as a place to keep hostages of the high king of Ireland. It contained over 100 bodies when excavated. Having carbon dated bones found in it they found that they ranged from 3500BC to around 560AD when the area was abandoned as the seat of the high king of Ireland.

When I uploaded it to the computer I was shocked thinking "wow! Tons of orbs for the spirits of the many bodies that were buried there..Many which would have had nasty deaths."

Then I thought about it and realised...Well it is a grassy area and a warm day with a light breeze blowing so probably pollen reflecting off the flash of the camera. Also they look pretty stationary and transparent... Still though it perked up my ears!


This is the entrance to the mound...


And this is the photo with the "orbs"




Acually the Irish Government want to run a motorway through this area which has huge value to Irish heritage. There are burial mounds just like this spotted all over the landscape in this area. Its sickening that they want to destroy so much of it. If interested, want to sign the petition or do anything you think would help check out www.tarawatch.org/

Cheers
Jim.

[aneaglesangel]

Wow! I've never seen a burial mound like that before! I wouldn't mind signing a petition to save the burial mounds if you think it will help! Thanks for sharing, I loove to see pictures from all over the world! So many places I probably won't get to see in real life!!

[thrashattack]

I dont know if it will help at this stage to be honest (though I'd hope it would) but it may make the government realise that they need to put more thought into these things and that people wont accept them destroying what we have. Thats "progress" for you I guess.

[aneaglesangel]

It's a real shame when people destroy their own heritage. There's sooo many buildings around here just falling apart. Heck, I got one right across the street from me! But things like this burial mound, come on, that's not something you can replace! It has a value that should mean more than money, or progress. It's our roots, but I guess when the almighty dollar is concerned, man doesn't care about his heritage. Oh well, maybe once it's too late, people will realize what they've lost!!

[lildebcc]

Nice pictures. I love the burial mounds; it is a shame that people want to destroy them instead of preserving them.

As for the orbs, I'd say dust/dirt. Considering it's inside the mound. If they were true 'orbs' they would be solid and probably show some kind of movement. >^o.o^<

[thrashattack]

Yea I thought it would be pollen due to the long grass and light breeze on top of the hill. Looking at the entrance and how its dusty looking though, it was probably more likely dirt..stirred up by me probably!

Check out the pattern carved into the stone to the left of the picture.

[lildebcc]

OMG - didn't notice that before! Very nice. Do you have any idea who would have done it and how old the carvings are? Do you have any idea what they represent or what they mean?
That kind of thing is always an awesome find. I love stuff like this.

>^o.o^<

[thrashattack]

It would have been the pre-celtic people because this was originally built around the same time as the nearby Newgrange (around 2500BC). It was probably the Tuatha De Dannan. They were apparently quite advanced for their time when it came to arts, crafts, astrology, etc so when the Celts came to Ireland the Tuatha De Dannan were thought by the Celts to be magic people (the traditions of the Tuatha De Dannan and Celts are thought to have merged together and they "inter married" but the legend goes the Celts got upper Ireland and the Tuatha De Dannan got under Ireland and this is where the various "wee folk" stories of Ireland comes from.).

Anyway to answer your questions I'm guessing they are from around 2200BC but could be younger cos the Celts did copy the stuff and the traditions merged. There are plenty of stones like this dating from the Iron Age like.

What the sprials mean I guess we can only theorise about. What you need to remember is that these would have been pagan people who were very in touch with nature and very aware of the cycles of the seasons. For example, a lot of tombs, most famously Newgrange, are lined up with the sun or moon at certain key times of the year. With Newgrange its the Winter Solstice where the sun will shine directly into the passage tomb at dawn and light the whole place up below. So perhaps the spirals are representing the cycles of life and time and nature and even the sun and the moon. There are many different theories about what they represent though.

I hope that helps with your questions. I'm no expert on it but Its interesting stuff. Its love to read the legends and then go to the places and try somehow to link the legends to what would have really happened.

[lildebcc]

Wow very nice, and thanks for all the information. We have a place here in New England called America's Stonehenge. It's North of me in Salem, NH. The site is said to be about 3,000+/- years old and is similar in some ways to Stonehenge as far as how structures were made. Granted there are no giant monoliths there, but there are still similarities, as well as carvings on the rocks. No one is really sure who originally put all of this together, but there is evidence that different cultures, throughout the years, stayed in this area.

There are stones all through the woods that mark the compass points and all the Pagan celebrations. They also still have ongoing anthropological digs.

When CAIPRS was there (I know, I know, put up the pictures already-LOL) I purchased the book AMERICA'S STONEHENGE AN INTERPRETIVE GUIDE. Really good book that explains the area. Can also get info by going to www.stonehengeusa.com.

>^o.o^<

[lildebcc]

A good book to check out about spirit photography would be Troy Taylor's book GHOSTS ON FILM. He has a chapter on orbs. Also has a lot of great photos as well as chapters on how to take proper photos and what to look for when you analyze the evidence that you catch on film.

>^o.o^<

[thrashattack]

Well it was a case here that I was up there just visiting and taking a few photos etc. It was when I looked at them afterwards I kinda went "wow!" and then when I thought about it I realised that it was just pollen or as was said above dirt.

That America's stonehenge sounds really interesting. I know little of the ancient culture there but for such a big place there must have been a huge amount of diversity in various different cultures there in ancient times. I must read up on it more. Is there a website or book that would deal not specifically with one place but just in general for North America?

[lildebcc]

Not that I know of. I'll check around and see what I can find out though. Would be nice to kno. >^o.o^<

[aneaglesangel]

Hmm, I'm not sure if there is a website like that! If it's out there lildeb will find it! She's the Google Queen!!

[lildebcc]

That's GODDESS not QUEEN. Being a queen would make me way too old - LOL >^o.o^<

[lildebcc]

THRASHATTACK WROTE: " Is there a website or book that would deal not specifically with one place but just in general for North America?"

I think I found something for you. Check out this website www.archaeolink.com/index.htm

You can check on archeology, anthropology, ancient civilizations, etc. around the world. It's geared toward students, but I found it interesting.

For example, I clicked on archeology, then scrolled down that page to the area where each state in the United States is listed, clicked on Massachusetts, and all kinds of information came up. Hope this helps you out. >^o.o^<