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

Description of Kerbstone 72

This stone is extensively carved, but some of the motifs in the upper section are difficult to record due to weathering. Several tool types can be detected: a medium-sized, rounded point, a chisel with a medium-to-large cutting edge, and a narrow-pointed tool; the different tool marks merge in some places. The motifs are almost exclusively curvilinear and are dispersed over most of the surface, with a border of broad, gapped lines picked below the motifs and up the sides.

A row of five anti-clockwise spirals runs across the middle of the stone; four have between five and five-and-a-half turns and the one on the right has six turns. A very small spiral of two turns is picked between the second and third spirals from the left. There are circles and short lines between the sets of spirals on the right, and above them there are further curvilinear motifs, including three more spirals and three sets of double circles, some gapped. Above the spirals on the left there are some wide, picked lines, curves, a lozenge, and an area-picked triangle.

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Knowth is a Stone Age Passage Tomb in the Boyne Valley in Ireland's Ancient East and together with Newgrange and Dowth are the principal sites of Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site. Knowth is the largest passage tomb of the Brú na Bóinne complex. The main mound is about 12 metres (40 ft) high and 67 metres (220 ft) in diameter covering about 1 hectare (2.5 acres). It contains two passages placed along an east-west line and was originally encircled by 127 kerbstones of which 124 are still in place.

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