Baetyl 1 from Knowth
The 49.5 cm long Baetyl 1 by Knowth is a sandstone object that is almost unique in the British Isles . The excavator George Eogan found it near Tomb 12, on the outside, near the western entrance of the megalithic complex Knowth I, in County Meath and considers it to be evidence that between Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula in the Stone Age not only the mythologically described, but real relationships also existed. He finds the counterparts to the Irish one-off in the similarly shaped conical, grooved idols of Portugal , the limestone idols .
description
The head of the Baetyl has a diameter of 30 cm and a small outer bevel. From there it tapers evenly to the rounded tip. The cross-section is round, but on one side there is a V-shaped groove that also tapers in the longitudinal direction. It ends near the tip and widens like a funnel at the head. The upper part is decorated on the outside with toe arched grooves that run obliquely to the axis.
Similar in shape to the sandstone object are two approximately 20 cm long pins made of bone or antler (one is damaged by the effects of heat), which were found in the Fourknocks complex and in the deposit of a burn in the Knowth 3 complex. Its domed head is approximately 17 mm in diameter. They are decorated in a similar way with one longitudinal and many transverse grooves.
See also
Individual evidence
literature
- G. Eogan: Irish Megalithic Tombs and Iberia: Comparisons and Contracts In: Problems of megalithic research: Lectures on the 100th birthday of Vera Leisner; Series: Madrider Forschungen 16 Berlin 1990 ISBN 978-3-11-011966-4