THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY IS IRELAND'S LEADING BODY OF EXPERTS IN THE SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

The Royal Irish Academy/Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann champions research. We identify and recognise Ireland’s world class researchers. We support scholarship and promote awareness of how science and the humanities enrich our lives and benefit society. We believe that good research needs to be promoted, sustained and communicated. The Academy is run by a Council of its members. Membership is by election and considered the highest academic honour in Ireland.

Read more about the RIA

Excavations at Knowth Volume 6: The Passage Tomb Archaeology of the Great Mound at Knowth

by  George EoganKerri Cleary (ed.)
€ 50.00

Book Details

Published by Royal Irish Academy

November 2017

Hardback

Number of pages: 896

ISBN: 978-1-908996-76-3

Downloads

PDF icon Advance Information

The aim of this book is to present the archaeological history of the achievements of the passage tomb builders who constructed and used the great mound (Tomb 1) at Knowth over a period of at least three centuries, c. 3200–2900 BC. This was a time of change, and the monuments at Knowth represent not just a change in ideas and ritual practices over extensive geographical areas of western and northern Europe, but also an increased ‘sophistication’ in architectural and engineering developments. The Knowth tombs provide evidence for these extensive changes in society, ritually, materially and socially, particularly with regard to relationships with wider Atlantic Europe.

It is hoped that the research presented in this volume, the sixth in the Excavations at Knowth series, will lead to a better understanding of the people who built the passage tomb cemetery at Knowth, and also contribute to the wider appreciation of society at the time.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the world renowned Eastern Tomb at Knowth, we are publishing free online our six books on Excavations at Knowth via the Digital Repository of Ireland.

Solve our book cover jigsaw puzzle here.

Reviews:

'[A] remarkable achievement ... the report is clearly structured and very readable. The figure drawings are lucid and informative and the same applies to most of the photographs'. Richard Bradley, University of Reading, August 2018.

About the authors

George Eogan

George Eogan BA, PhD, DLitt, LittD(hc), MRIA, FSA, was an Irish archaeologist with particular interest in the Neolithic and Late Bronze Ages. He was professor emeritus of Celtic Archaeology at University College Dublin. He was the director of the Knowth excavations for almost 40 years, as part of his research into the passage tomb builders in Ireland and Western Europe, and the results of his work in this area were published in an extensive series of books and papers. He also served as a member of Seanad Éireann.

Kerri Cleary (ed.)

Kerri Cleary has a PhD in archaeology from University College Cork for her research 'Irish Bronze Age settlements: spatial organisation and the deposition of material culture'. She was a research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, University of Wales, and the editor/author of Archaeological networks: excavations on six gas pipelines in County Cork (Collins Press, 2015). She is now a post-excavation manager with a commercial archaeological company based in England.