Knowth Kerbstone K11

Kerbstone K11 is one of the 127 kerbstones numbered in Professor George Eogan's record of the Knowth monument. It is located at the entrance to the eastern passage of the great passage tomb mound.

Knowth Kerbstone K11, the entrance stone of the Eastern Tomb. The greywacke stone is 3 meters (10 foot) long, greywacke is a type of coarse sandstone. The central groove on the stone is directly in line with the standing stone outside as well as the long passage within.

The Megalithic Art of the Passage Tombs at Knowth, Co. Meath

Description of Kerbstone 11

Stage 1 comprises a number of motifs, which underlie the Stage 2 carvings that dominate the stone. They include an incised grid pattern on the left of the main face, with a smaller example just to the right, Low down is a lightly picked two-turn clockwise spiral enclosed in an arc (or possibly a third turn of the spiral). A vertical row of chevrons runs down the center of the main face of the stone. On the top surface, to the left is a double circle with an arc between the circles and two further arcs outside them.

Stage 2: the carving belonging to this stage occupies both the whole of the stone's main surface and its top, and is arranged around the natural contours of the stone. The picked lines are broad and ribbon-like. A vertical line slightly right of center is placed in a natural hollow of the stone and continues onto the top surface. A narrower line lies parallel to it on the right, and there is a short, vertical line between the two. Two large motifs occupy the resulting spaces on the stone.

That on the left is more complete, and from the center outwards consists of a gapped circle, another around this with slightly squared upper corners, and a third, which is distinctly squared on the top-right. Five boxed rectangles, which are open at the bottom, enclose this, again with the top-right corner being more angular than the top-left. An arc runs between the second and third rectangle from the outside. At the bottom-left these clearly overlie the stage 1 spiral. The right half of the stone has a similar motif, but this is incomplete on the lower-right, where the stone is very irregular. All these rectangles are deeply picked (averaging 10mm in depth), and the natural surface stands out as ridges between the picked channels/ribbons.

Excavations at Knowth Volume 7: The Megalithic Art of the Passage Tombs at Knowth, Co. Meath

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Knowth Stone Age passage tomb

Among the surviving kerbstones at Knowth, K11 contributes to the largest open-air gallery of Neolithic art in western Europe. The stone stands at the entrance to the eastern passage of the Great Mound, where the kerb ring frames the opening of the longest megalithic passage in western Europe.

Carved in greywacke over three metres long, K11 was worked in at least two stages. A central groove aligns with the standing stone outside and with the passage within, while chevrons, spirals and deeply picked boxed rectangles spread across the main face and top surface in one of the most elaborate entrance panels at Knowth.

The eastern passage extends for about forty metres and opens into a cruciform chamber with three recesses and a corbelled roof, a plan comparable to Newgrange. Decorated orthostats line the passage, and the end stone has been interpreted as a schematic lunar map among the richest carvings in the tomb (eastern passage at Knowth).

Few Irish passage tombs combine entrance kerb art with a full decorated kerb ring, and K11 is the principal example on the eastern side of the mound. Visitors on guided tours can view the stone as part of the kerb circuit, while the passages and chambers themselves remain closed for conservation.