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Knowth Kerbstone K85

Kerbstone K85 is one of the 127 kerbstones numbered in Professor George Eogan's record of the Knowth monument. It is located on the north-western side of the great passage tomb mound.

Knowth Kerbstone K85 with faint spiral carvings and parallel curved lines on its weathered face, partly crossed by barrier tape. Knowth Kerbstone K85.

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

Book cover: The Megalithic Art of the Passage Tombs at Knowth, County Meath by George Eogan. Excavations at Knowth, Volume 7.

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

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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Knowth Stone Age passage tomb

Stone K85 belongs to the kerb ring that defines the oval footprint of the Knowth passage tomb in the Boyne Valley. Knowth was raised more than five thousand years ago in the Neolithic period, around 3200 BC, when established farming communities were shaping the Boyne Valley. Together with Newgrange and Dowth, it forms the heart of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage landscape.

Originally 127 kerbstones encircled the monument; three are now missing. Most of the survivors bear panels of curvilinear and circular ornament. Some compositions suggest careful observation of lunar rhythms, a theme that runs through much of the art at Knowth.

Medieval texts and local folklore associate Knowth with the royal cemetery of the Boyne and with ancestral powers of the land. The concentration of labour required to build Brú na Bóinne implies strong leadership and shared belief among Neolithic communities.

Later seasons of excavation exposed nineteen smaller tombs clustered around the main mound, along with pottery, house foundations and flint tools from an earlier Neolithic phase of settlement in the area, perhaps dating to around 4000 BC.

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