Knowth Kerbstone K30
Kerbstone K30 is one of the 127 kerbstones numbered in Professor George Eogan's record of the Knowth monument. It is located on the southern side of the great passage tomb mound.
Knowth Kerbstone 30.
The Megalithic Art of the Passage Tombs at Knowth, Co. Meath
Description of Kerbstone 30
A large composition is placed symmetrically on the stone. It consists of two crescents opening towards each other; these are enclosed by two large, C-shaped motifs opening downwards. These are picked in broad, ribbonlike bands with a medium-sized, rounded point, and chisel-like marks are used towards the bottom of the C-motifs at the outer-left.
The complex of passage tombs at Knowth is dated c. 3200–2900 BC, and this volume deals with one of the most significant aspects of the site. It presents a complete catalogue of the 390 recorded carved stones at Knowth, through descriptions, drawings and photographs.
Six main styles of art have been identified and these are discussed, together with the motifs and techniques employed. The Knowth carvings constitute c. 46% of all such art in Ireland, and the volume sets the Knowth art in the context of the other Irish carvings, those in western and northern Britain, and also the somewhat earlier art found on megalithic tombs in Atlantic Europe.
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Lovely photo by Clare Tuffy with the light falling on a stone highlighting every detail.
Knowth Kerbstone 30 scan by the Discovery Programme.
Knowth Stone Age passage tomb
K30 forms part of the ceremonial kerb documented during decades of excavation at Brú na Bóinne by Professor George Eogan and his team. The mound cannot be visited independently. Access is by guided tour from the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre at Donore, on the south bank of the Boyne, with a shuttle bus to the site and interpretation by trained guides.
The first farmers reached the Boyne Valley around six thousand years ago, probably travelling by river. They cleared woodland, cultivated wheat and barley on rich soils, and kept herds of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats before committing enormous communal labour to the great tombs.
The great tombs were laid out as part of a deliberate ceremonial setting above a bend in the River Boyne. Knowth occupies rising ground with wide views across the valley, placing it firmly within a prehistoric landscape that later tradition remembered as Brú na Bóinne, the royal seat of the Boyne.
Carvings on the end stone of the eastern passage have been interpreted as a schematic map of the moon's surface, among the earliest attempts anywhere to record the appearance of the lunar maria. Other motifs on the site may relate to eclipses and to the interplay of sun and moon in Neolithic reckoning.