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

26 Jan 2026

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 University 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 University 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 University 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