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Neolithic Solar Boat Rock Art At The Knowth Passage Mound
A month or so ago I opened an account at Concordia University library that allows me to access databases of academic papers etc. that are not available to me online. One of the first things I did was to search for more information about the Neolithic Irish "passage tomb" Knowth. In doing so, I was made aware of a century old report of a "solar boat" being depicted in rock art at nearby Newgrange. This was the first report I had ever seen speaking of a "solar boat" being depicted at any of the Boyne Valley "passage tombs", although I seem to recall that Lar Dooley did speak of a boat being depicted on Loughcrew's "Equinox Stone" some years ago. Lar would have perceived this as a depiction of an ordinary boat however, not a "solar boat" of the "sun god". I can't remember exactly how I responded to that information at the time, it's possible that responded that what Lar identified as a boat *could* be a "solar boat" in light of all the other solar eclipses symbolism carved into the "Equinox Stone" but, if I did, I never followed up on that by doing any further research. Being confronted by a century old report of a "solar boat" at Newgrange I intended to look into it further, but I did not find much information a month ago, perhaps because I did not try hard enough.
Quite serendipitously, about a week ago now, I was made aware of a post Anthony Murphy posted to his 'Mythical Ireland' Facebook group on August 3rd about a recent Tweet of Irish archaeologist and "aurophilic" antiquarian Mary Cahill regarding a "solar boat" that Mary perceives carved into Knowth's kerbstone 12.
I responded to Mary's Tweet with several Tweets about how the concept of the "solar boat" of the "sun god" was most probably inspired by observations of the upturned crescent of the partially eclipsed sun rising out of a body of water at sunrise, or sinking into a body of water at sunset.
I believe Eamonn Kelly's interpretation of a quite different "solar boat" that he perceives carved into Knowth's kerbstone 86 is largely correct, but he seems to have been unaware that the ancient concept of the "solar boat" of the "sun god" was inspired by observations of the upturned crescent of the partially eclipsed sun rising out of a body of water at sunrise, or sinking into a body of water at sunset. In the four quite impromptu, and certainly UNrehearsed, 20 minute long videos in this new YouTube playlist I created yesterday, I read Eamonn Kelly's article aloud, and interject my "Cultural Eclipsology" commentary when I believe I can shed more light on his "solar boat" theory-hypothesis.
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