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The next lecture in the Study of Religions Research Seminar Series is on Wednesday 28 January from 6-7pm on MS Teams with Dr John Grigsby

Happening On 28/01/2026

The Goddess and the Milky Way – A New Way of looking at Neolithic and Bronze Age Ceremonial Site

Using a combination of archaeo-astronomy and mythological analysis, John Grigsby will argue that the rites performed in the enigmatic prehistoric henge and burial monuments of Britain and Ireland were centred around a celestial goddess associated with the Milky Way, dimly remembered in such later figures such as the Irish cow-goddess Boand.

John was born in Dover, Kent in 1971. He studied archaeology and ancient history at the ÉîÒ¹ÑÇÖÞ¸£Àû¾Ã¾Ã of North Wales, Bangor, and went on to study the Welsh mythological cycle, the Mabinogion, for a Masters Degree, receiving a distinction for his thesis 'Myth and the Mabinogi' that explored the Welsh myths from a Jungian perspective. He then worked as a researcher for maverick archaeologist Graham Hancock for a few years, as well as authoring two books on myth – Warriors of the Wasteland, a book on the pagan origins of the Grail legends, and  Beowulf and Grendel, a book on the mythical and historical origins of the Old English poem. In 2019 he received his doctorate from the ÉîÒ¹ÑÇÖÞ¸£Àû¾Ã¾Ã of Bournemouth for his thesis 'Skyscapes, Landscapes and the Drama of Proto-Indo-European Myth' (supervised by Professor Tim Darvill), in which he argued that the henge monuments of Britain were aligned on the Milky Way, identified in this period, he suggested, as a goddess. He has lectured at the ÉîÒ¹ÑÇÖÞ¸£Àû¾Ã¾Ã of Kent at Canterbury in archaeology and myth (including Celtic archaeology and mythology; Anglo-Saxon legend, Dark Age Britain; Bronze Age Greek archaeology; Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain) and currently works for Canterbury Archaeological Trust as a Senior Archaeologist.

All Welcome To Join Us On Teams! Please contact Dr Jenny Butler for more information on j.butler@ucc.ie