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Passage-grave art in the Boyne Valley

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

Claire O'Kelly
Claire O'Kelly
Affiliation:
Ardnalee, Blackrock, Cork
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Extract

The art in question is found on the structural slabs of a group of megalithic tombs in the valley of the Boyne in Ireland. The tombs are all passage-graves and are characteristically situated on the highest local ground and grouped in a ‘cemetery’. The Boyne cemetery is about 15 km from the east coast and about 50 km by road north of Dublin. In an area approximately 4 × 4 km are situated the three large tumuli of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, as well as over 40 other monuments, more than half of which are passage-graves (fig. 1).

The three large mounds are only a few kilometres apart; in fact, from any one of them the other two can be seen since all are in commanding situations. They are similar as regards size and appearance, that is to say, each consists of a mound of stones, or stones, earth, etc., circular in plan and flat-topped, about 85 m in diameter at the base and 12 to 15 m in height. The base of each is surrounded by a continuous kerb of large slabs, 97 at Newgrange, an estimated 110 at Dowth, and an estimated 120 at Knowth. Newgrange is the central tumulus, Dowth is to the north-east, and Knowth to the north-west.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 39 , December 1973 , pp. 354 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1973

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References

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