What is recorded here

Nine underground passages appear in the great mound of Knowth, evidence that the ancient tomb became an active early medieval settlement rather than a forgotten dead place. Passage nine cuts through the northeast slope of Tomb 14, descending from a narrow western entrance into a small beehive chamber. Sheep, rabbit and unborn calf bones lay at the base of the earth that eventually filled the chamber, suggesting the darkness served human life before it swallowed the making.

Nine Man-made underground passages have been recorded in excavation at the passage tomb complex. They are associated with the early medieval open settlement (ME019-030060-) and are placed largely on the sides and summit of the great mound, Tomb 1C. This is Man-made underground passage 9, which was built into the NE-facing slope of the mound of Tomb 14. It was entered at W and has a short, well-preserved passage (L 3.2m; Wth0.65m; H 0.6-0.7m) with 5 lintels in place. The floor slopes down steeply (H 1m) to the floor of a beehive chamber (diam. 1.8m; H 1.3m) which had 2 capstones closing the roof. The passage and chamber were almost completely filled with a soft dark earth that would have percolated in. The base of the fill contained the bones of sheep and rabbits, and those of an unborn calf. (Eogan 2012, 168) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 06 November 2013 Amended: 17 September 2020 See the attached illustrations: _1 Early medieval features, from Knowth 5, Fig. 4:1 _2 Man-made underground passage plan, from Knowth 5, Fig. 4: 52

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