I love this collar of stones around the Stone of Destiny! Simply because, the platform of bricks laid out in a circular formation around the stone pillar is an exact replica of the Circular Workers' Platforms in Harappa !!

Some narratives related to ancient Celts and Irish 

Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland) is a collection of poems and prose narratives that purports to be a history of Ireland and the Irish from the creation of the world to the Middle Ages. This is comparable to the Old Testament as a narrative of Israelites' history or Mahabharata as a narrative of Bharatam janam (history of metalcasters) in the transition from cypro-lithic to bronze age phase of civilization).

"The oldest visible building at Tara is a small chambered cairn on the summit of the hill which is known as the Mound of the Hostages. The name probably comes from some of the many mythological stories associated with the monument. The mound is a chambered cairn or passage grave and was built around 3000 BCE...The mound was excavated by S. P. O'Riordan between 1955 and 1959; what you see today is the reconstruction after excavation. O'Riordan found evidence of an earlier structure under the mound...The mound produced the largest collection of burials and associated artifacts from any Irish neolithic site. These finds included a 30 cm thick layer of cremated bones and a whole range of pendants, antler pins, pottery shards, stone balls and a minature Carrowkeel ware pot. Use for burial continued throughout the Bronze age, when nearly 40 cremated burials were placed in the clay mantle of the mound. There was one inhumation, the body of a 14 year old boy, which was placed under a burial urn. Finds with this burial included fiaence beads which came from the eastern Mediterranean...The Lia Fáil, or Stone of Destiny, which now stands at the centre of a fort called the Forrad, originaly stood outside the entrance to the Mound of the Hostages. It was moved to its present location at the centre of the Forraid in 1824 to commemorate the 1798 Battle of Tara. The stone is a granite pillar, 1.5 meters tall, and is said to be one of the four treasures brought to Ireland by the Tuatha De Danann. 

Close-by th 8-shaped strucure are two polished pillars, stambhas at Dholavira.

One of the two polished stone pillars is seen to the left of the 8-shaped stone structure in dholara.

Two linga skambhas of Dholavira (ca. 2500 BCE); skambha as fulcrum of all existence: Atharva Veda

Dholavira. Stone pillars, ring-stones.

Evidence for Sivalinga is provided in other sites (Mohenjodaro and Harappa) of the civilization:

Tre-foil inlay decorated base (for linga icon?); smoothed, polished pedestal of dark red stone; National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi; After Mackay 1938: I, 411; II, pl. 107:35; Parpola, 1994, p. 218.

Two decorated bases and a lingam, Mohenjodaro. 

Lingam, grey sandstone in situ, Harappa, Trench Ai, Mound F, Pl. X (c) (After Vats). "In an earthenware jar, No. 12414, recovered from Mound F, Trench IV, Square I... in this jar, six lingams were found along with some tiny pieces of shell, a unicorn seal, an oblong grey sandstone block with polished surface, five stone pestles, a stone palette, and a block of chalcedony..." (Vats,MS,  Excavations at Harappa, p. 370)

A Terracotta Linga from Kalibangan (2600 BC)

Harappa: reconstructed platform close-up (white colouring is caused by salt seepage)

Harappa platforms.

Indus valley mystery. Archaeology and language: Archaeological context of Indus script cipher. 

• The Dagda's Cauldron
• The Spear of Lugh
• The Stone of Fal
• The Sword of Light of Nuada

• Exterior plate f
 
• Detail from interior plate A
 
• Interior plate C
 
• Interior plate E

Base plate

Exterior plates

• On plate a, the bearded man holds in each hand a much smaller figure by the arm. Each of those two reach upward toward a small boar. Under the feet of the figures (on the shoulders of the larger man) are a dog on the left side and a winged horse on the right side.

• The figure on plate b holds in each hand a sea-horse or dragon.

• On plate c, a male figure raises his empty fists. On his right shoulder is a man in a "boxing" position, and on his left shoulder, there is a leaping figure with a small horseman underneath.

• Plate d shows a bearded figure holding a stag by the hind quarters in each hand.

• The female figure on plate e is flanked by two smaller male busts.

• A female figure holds a bird in her upraised right hand on plate f. Her left arm is horizontal, supporting a man and a dog lying on its back. Two birds of prey are situated on either side of her head. Her hair is being plaited by a small woman on the right.

• On plate g, the female figure has her arms crossed. On her right shoulder, a scene of a man fighting a lion is shown. On her left shoulder is a leaping figure similar to the one on plate c.

Interior plates

• Plate A shows an antlered male figure seated in a central position, likely Cernunnos. In his right hand, the figure is holding a torc, and with his left hand, he grips a horned serpent by the head. To the left is a stag with antlers that are very similar to the humanoid. Surrounding the scene are other canine, feline, and bovine figures, as well as a human figure riding a fish or a dolphin. Between his antlers, is an unknown image, possibly a plant or a tree, the identity of which is currently disputed.

• On plate B, the bust of a female is flanked by two six-spoked wheels, two elephant-like creatures, and two griffins. A large hound resides underneath the bust.

• The bust of a bearded figure holding on to a broken wheel is the main constituent of plate C. A smaller, leaping figure with a horned helmet is also holding the rim of the wheel. Under the leaping figure is a horned serpent. The group is surrounded by griffins and other creatures, some similar to those on plate B. The wheel's spokes are rendered asymmetrical, but judging from the lower half, the wheel may have had twelve spokes.

• Plate D depicts a bull-slaying scene. Three bulls are arranged in a row, facing right, and each of them is attacked by a man with a sword. A cat and a dog, both running to the left, appear respectively over and below each bull.

• On the lower half of plate E, a line of warriors bearing spears and shields march to the left accompanied by carnyx players. On the left side, a large figure is immersing a smaller man in a cauldron. On the upper half, facing away from the cauldron are warriors on horseback.
• 
  

Old Ireland narratives document that the supernaturally-gifted Tuatha Dé Danann (or Tuath Dé) represent the main pagan gods of Ireland. They come to Ireland in dark clouds and land on a mountain in the west. 

(Koch, John T. Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2006. pp.1693-1694.)

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.phpop=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=23878  

The Stone of Destiny at Tara Early morning sun casting long shadows from the Stone of Destiny. This view is looking roughly northwards.

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=19084 

The Lia Fáil and the eclipsed moon 4/3/07. Though the moon was fully in shadow and a blood red colour, the long exposure renders it a glowing orb (and also luckily renders the people walking in and out during the exposure invisible!). 

Standing Stone in Co. Meath. Atop the hill of Tara stands a stone pillar that was the Irish Lia Fáil (Stone of Destiny) on which the High Kings of Ireland were crowned; legends suggest that the stone was required to roar three times if the chosen one was a true king.

A theory that may predate the Hill of Tara's splendor before Celtic times is the legendary story naming the Hill of Tara as the capital of the Tuatha Dé Danann, pre-Celtic dwellers of Ireland. When the Celts established a seat in the hill, the hill became the place from which the kings of Mide ruled Ireland. There is much debate among historians as to how far the King's influence spread; it may have been as little as the middle of Ireland, or may have been all the northern half. 

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=11511 

Gundestrup Cauldron (La Tene Style)

...

Gundestrup Cauldron

Gundestrup Cauldron
Peat bog, Gundestrup (Denmark)
First century B.C.E.
Silver partially gilded
Diameter 69cm., Height 42cm.
Copenhagen, Nationalmuseet

The Gundestrup Cauldron is a religious vessel found in Himmerland, Denmark, 1891. It was deposited in a dry section of a peat bog, dismantled with its five long rectangular plates, seven short ones and one round plate. Each plate is made of 97.0% pure silver and filled with various motifs of animals, plants and pagan deities. Sophius Müller(1892) reconstructed these plates into the present form of the cauldron: five rectangular plates are placed in the inside of the cauldron leaving 2cm of space between each, and the seven (originally eight) plates form the outside of the cauldron. The round plate is assumed as the base of the cauldron. The reconstructed cauldron with its spherical base and cylindrical side is 69cm. in diameter and 42cm. high; both the inner and outer plates are almost of the same height ( about 21cm) forming the cylindrical side of the cauldron.

As the largest surviving piece of Europian Iron Age silver work, the Gundestrup Cauldron has been given a special interest by many scholars. Especially, its high quality workmanship and iconographic variety have generated an incessant inquiry into the origin of the cauldron. Though the date of the cauldron is generally attributed to the 2^nd or 1^st century BCE (La Tène III), there still remains much room for controversy concerning the place of its manufacture. The main problem comes from the fact that its style and workmanship is Thracian rather than Celtic despite its decorative motifs manifestly Celtic. So far, scholastic opinions have been largely divided into two groups: those who argue for the Gaulish origin and those who argue for the Thracian origin. The former locate the manufacture of the cauldron in the Celtic west while the latter opt for the Lower Danube in southeastern Europe.

(base)

Each plate of the cauldron is labeled after Klindt-Jensen       whose labeling is generally adopted by the other scholars.       Five inner plates are labeled in capitalized letters,       and seven outer plates are labeled in small letters.

    
            (A)                           (B)                           (C)                        (D)                            (E)
      
        (a)                    (b)                 (c)                (d)                  (e)                 (f)                 (g)
 
 
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