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Knowth, Co. Meath, has been a place of ritual and settlement from the beginning of the Neolithic to the modern era. It is a national monument and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Property: the ancient Brú na Bóinne passage tomb complex that also includes Dowth and Newgrange. This book, based on material from the archaeological excavations published in our seven-volume Excavations at Knowth series, offers a general overview of what Knowth is all about, outlining why it is of interest and importance. In part, it is intended as a guide that people can use to navigate their way around the site, but it is also a book that anyone can read, use and enjoy without being on site and still get a feel for Knowth and how it came to be what it is.
Did you know… Knowth and the other passage tombs in the Boyne Valley contain the largest collection of megalithic art in Europe. Knowth has the largest collection at any single location.
The number of blue glass beads recovered at Knowth is more than twice the combined total from all other Late Iron Age burial sites in Ireland.
Early medieval ‘graffiti’ in the form of ogham and insular inscriptions was carved in the passages of the East and West tombs of the Great Mound at Knowth in the eighth century ad.
Knowth has produced the richest archaeological assemblage of material of tenth- to thirteenth-century date from any rural site in Ireland, surpassed only by the urban excavations at Dublin and Waterford.
At the time the carved flint macehead was recovered in the East tomb at Knowth in 1982, it was one of only two maceheads to have been found as grave goods in an Irish passage tomb. The other, a partial pestle macehead, had been found in Knowth’s West tomb in July 1967.
Product details
ISBN:9781802050158
Publication Date: July 24, 2024
Number of pages:144
Helena King is senior editor at the Royal Irish Academy. She was project manager and editor from volume three to volume seven of the Excavations at Knowth series.Kerri Cleary
Kerri Cleary was project coordinator for volume six in the Excavations at Knowth series, on the Neolithic archaeology of the Great Mound. She has worked as an archaeologist for over fifteen years, since completing her PhD at University College Cork in 2007. She specialises in prehistoric archaeology, particularly the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Ireland.
George Eogan
George Eogan directed the Knowth excavations for almost 40 years, as part of his research into the passage tomb builders of Ireland and Western Europe. The results of his work in this area were published in an extensive series of books and papers, including the Royal Irish Academy’s seven-volume Excavations at Knowth series. Following his retirement as professor of archaeology at UCD in 1995, he became Professor Emeritus of Celtic Archaeology.
Elizabeth Shee Twohig
Elizabeth Shee Twohig was senior lecturer in archaeology at University College Cork until her retirement in 2007. She was Archaeological Editor and author of four of the six chapters in The Megalithic art of the passage tombs at Knowth, County Meath, volume seven in the Excavations at Knowth series. She is a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Edel Bhreathnach
Edel Bhreathnach is a medieval historian with an interest in interdisciplinary studies in archaeology, history and literature. She wrote Ireland in the medieval world 400–1000 ad: landscape, kingship and religion (Four Courts: Dublin, 2014) and co-edited Monastic Europe: communities, landscapes and settlements (Brepols: Turnhout, 2019). She served as CEO of The Discovery Programme 2013–19.
Patrizia La Piscopia
Patrizia La Piscopia works in the World Heritage Unit at the National Monuments Service (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage) and occasionally lectures on UCD’s post-graduate programme in World Heritage Management and Conservation. She is a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and a committee member of Blue Shield Ireland.
Marie-Luise Theuerkauf
Marie-Luise Theuerkauf is a research associate in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge University. Her doctorate in Early Irish and Old French is from University College Cork. She is the author of Dindshenchas Érenn (Cork Studies in Celtic Literatures: Cork, 2023).
Claire Breen joined the National Monuments Service (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage) in 2000 and is a senior archaeologist in its Monument Protection Unit. She manages the Community Monuments Fund and advises on matters relating to the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Property.
Ken Williams
Ken Williams is a photographer whose specialist area is the prehistoric art and monuments of Western Europe. He has been involved in numerous collaborations with archaeologists on a wide range of projects, and has contributed to several academic and popular publications and conferences on prehistoric art and monuments, their recording, and their future conservation.
Steve Doogan
Steve Doogan is an award-winning illustrator from Scotland. Over the past 22 years he has produced illustrations for a wide variety of clients, from heritage and archaeological projects to theatre, music, packaging and publishing. He has produced two childrens books with the writer Manchan Magan: Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Irish Words for Nature, and Wolf-Men and Water Hounds. He lives in Dublin.
