Passage tomb (passage grave)Fringe site
Fourknocks Passage Tomb
Datedc. 3000–2500 BCE
Photo Misiozygi · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Fourknocks Passage Tomb is a passage grave and National Monument in County Meath, Ireland, dated to 3000-2500 BC. It lies 2.7 km (1.7 mi) northwest of Naul, near a hilltop overlooking the Delvin River.
It was unknown to archaeology until 1949 and was excavated from 1950 to 1952. Unlike other passage graves, it is not believed to have been covered over with stones.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Age sources
How old this site is, and who says so.
Range across all claimsc. 3000–2500 BCE
EstimatedWhat this badge means
A reading of this site: what its style says, or a statement published about it.
- 3000–2500 BCEPublished sourceThe source gives the passage tomb's date as a range.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- 2750 BCEWikipedia: Fourknocks Passage Tomb (infobox)Source: en.wikipedia.org
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Fourknocks Passage Tomb
The original roof was likely a wooden structure supported by a central pole; a wooden pole may have held up a wooden or animal-skin roof.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Fourknocks has a 17 foot long passage leading into a wide, pear-shaped chamber (18 X 21 ft) with three smaller offset chambers. It has a strong similarity to Cairn L at Loughcrew. Two of the lintels have chevron decoration and one has lozenge decoration. The original roof was likely a wooden structure supported by a central pole; a wooden pole may have held up a wooden or animal-skin roof. Two other mounds in the Fourknocks complex were excavated, and one of these likely served as the cremation site for the bones found in the main tomb and was used for later interments.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb was not known until 1949, when a woman visiting Newgrange mentioned that there were mounds like this on her uncle's farm. It is not marked on any of the old Ordnance Survey maps. It was first excavated from 1950 to 1952 by PJ Hartnett, who found cists, grave goods including a foot bowl and a carved antler pin, urns containing cremated remains, and a posthole.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
During reconstruction after excavation, a concrete roof was placed over the chamber for protection.
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
The placename Fourknocks means either cold hill or bare/exposed hill.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Passage tombs in Ireland and Britain are burial chambers covered in earth or stone, with a narrow access passage made of large stones, and they often lie in large clusters called cemeteries. Most were built in the fourth millennium BCE.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish and British passage tombs
A passage tomb is a burial chamber covered in earth or stone, with a narrow access passage made of large stones. The type is found along the Atlantic seaboard of Europe, and in Ireland and Britain passage tombs often lie in large clusters, called cemeteries. Ireland has four great ones, known as the "big four": Brú na Bóinne in the Boyne Valley, Loughcrew, Carrowkeel and Carrowmore, each with its own character. Most were built in the fourth millennium BCE.
The Boyne Valley is the heart of the tradition. Brú na Bóinne in County Meath comprises at least ninety monuments, dominated by Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, built in the 32nd century BCE. Newgrange, built around 3100 BCE, is older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. It has a façade of white quartz cobbles ringed by engraved kerbstones, and is aligned so that the rising sun on the winter solstice shines through a "roofbox" above the entrance and floods the inner chamber. Knowth, a large passage tomb surrounded by 17 smaller ones, holds the largest assemblage of megalithic art in Europe and is ringed by 127 kerbstones. Dowth has mostly been left as a ruin, with a crater from an 1847 excavation.
Across the Irish Sea, Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey is considered one of the finest passage tombs in Wales. Visitors can go through its stone passage into the chamber, and the site was once a henge with a stone circle; it may have been used to mark the summer solstice. Barclodiad y Gawres, "the giantess's apronful", on the same island is a cruciform passage grave with decorated stones.
When visiting, look at the kerbstones for carved spirals and lozenges, at the direction of the passage, and at the quartz and other stones that came from far away.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Passage grave, Wikipedia: Newgrange, Wikipedia: Knowth, Wikipedia: Brú na Bóinne, Wikipedia: Dowth, Wikipedia: Bryn Celli Ddu, Wikipedia: Barclodiad y Gawres, Wikipedia: Loughcrew, Wikipedia: Carrowmore · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 2500 BCE
Fourknocks Passage Tomb dates to 3000–2500 BC.
Source - 1949
It was unknown to archaeology until 1949, when a woman making a visit to Newgrange mentioned, "there are mounds like this on my uncle’s farm." It is not marked on any of the old Ordnance Survey maps.
Source - 1950
It was first excavated from 1950 to 1952 by PJ Hartnett.
Source
Photographs
8 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
3000–2500 BCEHow this date was established: Stated by the sourceThe source gives the passage tomb's date as a range.Source for this date
Measured facts
- Location
- County Meath, IrelandSource: Location
- Heritage designation
- national monument of IrelandSource: Heritage designation
- Excavation period
- 1950 to 1952Source: Excavation period
- Grave goods
- a foot bowl and a carved antler pinSource: Grave goods
- Possible roof support
- a wooden poleSource: Possible roof support
- Inception
- 2750s BCESource: Inception
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 53°35′51″ N, 6°20′14″ WFor a GPS or map app: 53.59739, -6.33719
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- Passage tomb (passage grave)Passage Tomb von Gormanstown3400–2900 BCE
Passage Tombs von Bremore3400–2900 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Ninch Barrow15–245 CE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Dowth Mound3700–2900 BCE
Dowth3200–2900 BCE
Newgrange3150–3050 BCE
Knowth2617 BCE–768 CE
Townleyhall passage grave3400–2900 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
3 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1440021wikidata.org
- 02Fringe claim sourceen.wikipedia.org
- 03Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org
Image files
- The tomb.jpgMisiozygiCC BY-SA 4.0
- Fourknocks doorway.jpgRob HursonCC BY-SA 4.0
- Stramullen Fourknocks Passage Tomb.jpgZaironCC BY 4.0
- Tara Mound of the Hostages or Fourknocks.jpgFamily photoCC BY-SA 4.0
- Fourknocks chamber.jpgRob HursonCC BY-SA 4.0
- Western recess, Fourknocks passage tomb.jpgRob HursonCC BY-SA 4.0
- Eastern recess lintel.jpgRob HursonCC BY-SA 4.0
- Southern recess lintel, Fourknocks.jpgRob HursonCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Fourknocks Passage Tomb" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): Fourknocks Passage TombCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1440021CC0
- Fringe claim sourceCC BY-SA 4.0