The stretch of valley between Drogheda and Slane, Brú na Bóinne (Gaelic for Palace of the Boyne) is home to spectacular megalithic tombs dating back more than 5 000 years. Some 40 burial places have been identified, but only three have been systematically excavated. The site is strewn with other monuments: stone circles, menhirs and medieval buildings, so many vestiges of the civilisations that have succeeded each other in Ireland over close to 6 000 years.