Michael J. O'Kelly

Newgrange

Michael Joseph O'Kelly (born 1915 in Abbeyfeale , County Limerick , † October 1982 ) was an Irish prehistorian . He restored today UNESCO World Heritage Newgrange , a passage grave of the late Stone Age in Trim , Ireland .

Life

Although he was baptized Michael Joseph, his friends and family always called him Brian, as his mother originally intended for him and would have preferred to baptize him while he was alive. O'Kelly began his studies at University College Cork in 1934. In 1937, while still a student, O'Kelley began playing field hockey . He worked as a surveyor on the excavations of the ring fort at Garranes in County Cork with Seán P. Ó. Ríordáin, later professor of archeology at University College Cork. At the end of the year O'Kelly moved on to the " Neolithic area " Lough Gur . After reaching the Masters was O'Kelly curator of the new Cork Public Museum in Fitzgerald Park . In 1945 he married his wife Claire, also an archaeologist who studied with him.

In 1946, O'Kelly succeeded his mentor, Professor Ó Ríordáin, as director of the Department of Archeology at University College Cork, a position he held for 36 years. O'Kelly dug continuously for his work each summer. Since 1944 he published frequently articles in professional journals. O'Kelly was widely respected as a teacher, for his fieldwork, and for his published articles.

Newgrange, the most closely associated site with O'Kelly, was discovered by chance in 1699 and attracted huge numbers of tourists. However, in 1961 it was in poor condition and there was no longer any public access. That year, the archaeologist Patrick Hartnett of the Bord Fáilte Éireann (Irish Tourist Board) chose O'Kelly to lead the excavations and make the site safe for tourists. Work continued every season through 1975.

On December 21, 1968, O'Kelly confirmed a local legend that at the winter solstice, the sun's ray went straight through the grave, fell through a small "roof box" opening above the doorway, and continued along the length of the passage to the Go to the center of the chamber. O'Kelly speculated, “I think the people who built Newgrange built the site not just as a tomb, but as a house of death, a house in which the spirits of special people will live for a long time. To ensure this, the builders had to take special precautions to ensure that the tomb remains dry as it is to this day. ... "(English: I think that the people who built Newgrange built not just a tomb but a house of the dead, a house in which the spirits of special people were going to live for a very long time. To ensure this, the builders took special precautions to make sure the tomb stayed completely dry, as it is to this day. ... )

PR Giot wrote of him: “O'Kelly was a man of the field, a professional excavator, an experimental archaeologist and was not involved in pseudo-Marxist , pseudo-Freudian or pseudo-structuralist interpretations. He was an ethno-archaeologist. "( Engl .: O'Kelly was a man of the field, an expert excavator, an experimental archaeologist, not at all involved in pseudo-marxist, pseudo-freudian, or pseudo-structuralist interpretations. He what an ethno-archaeologist. )

Publications

• Irish Antiquity. 1981.
• Newgrange: Archeology, Art and Legend. 1982.
• Early Ireland: An Introduction to Irish Prehistory. 1989, ISBN 0-521-33687-2 . (posthumously)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Michael J. O'Kelly, Claire O'Kelly (Eds.): Early Ireland: An Introduction to Irish Prehistory. 1989, ISBN 0-521-33687-2 , p. XI.
2. ^ Professor Michael J. O'Kelly excavated and restored Newgrange. In: Newgrange.com. Retrieved November 14, 2010 . 
3. ^ ^{A b} Peter Harbison: Pre-Christian Ireland: From the First Settlers to the Early Celts. Thames and Hudson, London 1988, ISBN 0-500-27809-1 , pp.?.
4. ^ Professor Michael J. O'Kelly excavated and restored Newgrange. In: Knowth.com. Retrieved November 14, 2010 . 
5. ^ PR Giot: Review: Newgrange: archeology, art and legend. In: Antiquity. Volume 57, 1983, p. 150 ( Online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ). Retrieved November 17, 2010.