Knowth Kerbstone K93
Kerbstone K93 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 K93 | Photo by Clare Tuffy.
The Megalithic Art of the Passage Tombs at Knowth, Co. Meath
Description of Kerbstone 93
The stone has a marked horizontal arris, and the carvings on the upper part of the stone are noticeably more weathered than those lower down. The principal motif is an eighteen-bend serpentiform running across the stone, and beneath this is a horizontal line that turns up at each end. Above the serpentiform is a row of six single arcs, and further right are two double arcs and one single; all the arcs open to the side.
Above these, from the left, is a double concentric circle, then three concentric circles, and between this motif and the next to the right there may have been a circular motif; there are also the remains of some short, curved lines, which may have been part of an earlier motif. The next motif to the right is an anti-clockwise spiral, which turns back on itself, with some short lines and curves just to the right. The motifs on the upper slope of the stone are picked with a small to medium-sized point, and on the lower part with a medium-to-large point, and there are also some elongated marks made with a chisel.
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
Stone K93 belongs to the kerb ring that defines the oval footprint of the Knowth passage tomb in the Boyne Valley. The passage tombs of the Boyne were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth together represent one of the richest prehistoric landscapes in Europe, valued for their age, scale and megalithic art.
The central cairn is accompanied by nineteen satellite mounds. Knowth holds roughly a quarter of all recorded megalithic art in western Europe, with two major passages and decades of scientific excavation behind the story told today.
Knowth Kerbstone 93 | Photo by Clare Tuffy.
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.