Knowth
Knowth ( Irish : Cnobha ) is part of the Brú-na-Bóinne complex, a large collection of prehistoric megalithic sites at Donore in the Boyne Valley , County Meath , Ireland . It consists of the main hill and around 20 smaller satellite systems, which are about 1.0 km northwest of Newgrange and 2.0 km west of Dowth . The main hill is larger than almost all of Ireland's megalithic structures .
Research history
As early as 1940, excavations were carried out by RAS MacAllister. At that time the satellite systems were still undiscovered. Only in a few places did individual stones reach beyond the sward. The main hill with the west and east facility and the once 20 (17 preserved) neighboring Tombs passage were excavated by George Eogan from 1962 in 25 years of work.
architecture
The complex is believed to be older than Newgrange, which dates back to around 3,150 BC. Is dated. The main hill contains a system with a widened, bent chamber (west grave) and one with a cross chamber, the ceiling of which consists of a false vault (east grave). In addition, the main hill, known as Knowth 1, contains numerous younger graves and several medieval basements .
The satellite graves surround the main hill. Some can also be found at a greater distance. Eight satellite systems (analogous to the west grave) have a widened, kinked chamber, six (analogous to the east grave) have a cross chamber. Knowth has many decorated wall stones in the corridors and chambers of the main hill, but also in some satellite systems. Eogan speaks of a total of 300 decorated stones, including missing stones. According to Eogan and Twohig, the incisions, although they are represented in both types of chambers, represent different styles (a paradigm shift). Eogan speaks of angular (angular) in Newgrange and of rectilinear (rectangular).
The main hill
The oval main hill has a diameter of 80 m or 95 m (275 m circumference) and is almost 10 m high. It was surrounded by a ditch created much later, within the curb made of 127 stone blocks (each over 2 m long). There is an interruption in the curb circle at satellite no. 16. As this already existed before the east grave was built, this was taken into account when creating the curb circle. Its entrance was relocated to a newly created angled corridor, a unique specimen in the megalithic architecture of Ireland. The hill was built up in layers of turf, clay, pebbles and slate.
West grave
The older west grave is 34 m long. In front of the entrance there are remains of horseshoe-shaped or round stone settings. They are mostly built near the curbs of the hill. The corridor and the chamber consist of 80 wall and 32 ceiling stones. An ornate basin stone was found in the corridor that originally stood in the chamber. The chamber, which widens and rises only slightly compared to the corridor, is separated from the corridor by a high threshold stone. The head end of the chamber is also divided into axial sectors by two upright stones. In front of the entrance to the passage there are two menhirs , one high and narrow, while the other is small and almost round.
East grave
The younger east grave is over 40 m long. At 30 m, its corridor is the longest of all Passage tombs. The 9 m high cantilever vault of the cross chamber is the highest in Ireland. The horizontally placed stones of the corridor are towards the middle, where the load increases through the hill, sometimes broken or side stones of the corridor are tilted into the corridor. A small menhir once stood in the middle of a paved floor area in front of the entrance. Six other horseshoe-shaped or round, but unpaved stone settings are located near the curbs of the hill (between No. 8 and 14). The entry stone in front of the corridor (No. 74) is provided with special, straight markings, which are clearly different in style from the spiral patterns of Newgrange and the Westray Stones. In the right side niche there is a bowl stone called "Dagda's Couldron", on which the ashes of the deceased were probably placed. A spirally decorated club head, which was discovered in the complex, shows analogies to artefacts of the grooved ware .
The satellites
The satellites with diameters of up to 22 m are much smaller. Many were only discovered during the excavation and were more or less badly damaged. At least some are older than the main hill, as two of them were rebuilt to make way for the main hill's boundary stones. The corridors of many satellites seem to be aligned with Knowth 1, which repeatedly raises the question of whether the main hill had a predecessor. Some satellite graves (No. 2 + 8) also contain engraved orthostats and cup stones in the chamber.
To the west of Knowth 1 was a larger area of early Neolithic activity. Open up a subrechteckige structure that pits a house, herd, let palisades and a paved area included. The sub-rectangular structure of around 12 by 10 m was used when building satellite grave No. 8 destroyed.
The U-shaped area delimited by trenches was interrupted at the northeast corner. On the west side the trench was deepest with a series of 11 round post holes about 15 cm in diameter. The depth was much shallower on the other sides.
The structures within the fenced area included: a paved area and a hearth that lay between the pavement and the entrance. Two smaller herds were also discovered. There were also seven pits within the fenced-off area, one of which dates the trenches later, as part of it was cut off when the southern trench was dug. All the pits were filled with soft, dark earth. The pottery finds within this structure included Western Neolithic ware , with one particularity: many of the shards have cavities made by pebbles. The holes made the vessels unusable for liquids, for which the polished containers were apparently there.
There were two curved, halfway concentric palisades that were between 58 and 59 m long and for which no satisfactory purpose could be found. The east trench is better preserved and shows several post holes at irregular intervals. There was considerable activity in the area between the palisades. There were two areas of pebble paving indicating an area of activity but not belonging to a house. There was a small area in which flint cuttings occur concentrated and which is to be regarded as an area of flint processing. The predominant raw material seems to have been Kieselflint "pebble flint".
Finds of Western Neolithic Ware were substantial. The head of a basalt ax and two of the three arrowheads found were leaf- shaped . Interestingly, no hollow scrapers were found, and despite the fact that no Carrowkeel product was found, the finding is more similar to the material from Court tombs .
Most of these satellites have been reconstructed, the mounds are made of expanded polystyrene or cement and are covered with sod.
The stones
| Knowth 1 | 197 stones |
| Knowth 2-18 | 41 stones |
| Knowth destroyed | 20 stones |
| other | 3 stones |
| Total knowth | 261 stones |
| Newgrange totally | 106 stones |
Knowth Timber Circle
The Knowth Timber Circle (also called Knowth Woodhenge) was established between 2800 and 2500 BC. Built near the eastern entrance of the main hill (hill 1).
The art of Knowth
G. Eogan distinguishes between the "Angular" and the "Rectilinear style" in Irish megalithic systems. Both styles are represented in Knowth on the orthostats of the corridors and chambers, of which there are 45 in total. Square characters, which are also typical for Barclodiad y Gawres , Fourknocks 1 and Newgrange , appear in Knowth in the younger east grave (12) in the west grave (4) and in grave 16 (6). There are rectilinear images in the east grave (11) and in the west grave (10). Then there are the two curbs in front of the entrances and their decoration. The decorated club heads by Knowth and the sandstone object by Knowth are special features .
Later use
Arranged according to periods of use, from right to left:
Neolithic - Iron Age - Early Christian Period - Norman Period
As a result, Knowth was used as a burial site and possibly as a ritual site, as evidenced by 34 stone boxes and the remains of a circle of stakes. During the Iron Age , a fortification protected by moats was built on the main hill . At the beginning of Christianization, the monks of Mellifont Abbey erected stone walls and buildings on the hill. Presumably this facility was operated as a church-owned farm (English Grange ). Knowth was used agriculturally until the modern era, until the state acquired the facility in 1939.
visit
Knowth can be visited with a guide from April to October. The tours start at the Brú-na-Bóinne complex, the Visitor Center of Newgrange . There, tours to both burial mounds can only be booked separately. The visitor center can be found by following the signs from the N2 near Slane. Knowth and Newgrange can only be visited from there.
See also
literature
- George Eogan: Knowth and the passage-tombs of Ireland. Thames and Hudson, London 1986, ISBN 0-500-39023-1 .
- George Eogan: Knowth before Knowth. In: Antiquity. Vol. 72 = No. 275, ISSN 0003-598X , 1998, pp. 162-172.
- George Eogan, Helen Roch: Settlement and ritual sites of the fourth and third millenia BC (= Excavations at Knowth. Vol. 2 = Royal Irish Academy monographs in archeology. Vol. 3). Royal Irish Academy, The National Monuments Service, Heritage Division, Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Dublin 1997, ISBN 1-87404-549-6 .
Web links
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
- Knowth The Sacred Island
- Video
Coordinates: 53 ° 42 ′ 6 ″ N , 6 ° 29 ′ 30 ″ W.