What is recorded here

Five metalworking areas emerged beside the old passage tombs, including area 3 where a shallow hearth sat above a small pit outside House 12. Crucible fragments and fine whitish heating trays reveal that people refined silver and a little gold there during the first millennium AD. The work was small in quantity but deliberate, turning bright metal into shape while shadowed giants watched from beneath the grass.

Five areas with metalworking activity associated with features from the first millennium AD were recovered in excavation at the Knowth cemetery of prehistoric passage tombs. This is metalworking area 3 located just outside the W wall of House 12. It consisted of a subcircular spread (dims 2.2m x 1.7m; T c. 0.01m) of charcoal and ash with a concentration (diam. 0.3m; D 0.15m) that was probably a hearth placed over a small pit (diam. 0.24m; D 0.24) (Eogan 2012, 144-7). Six clay crucible fragments and the remains of 4 heating trays were recovered. The trays were made from a fine whitish clay and were used for refining precious metals. Residues indicate that both silver and a little gold-working was conducted, but the quantities are relatively small. (Barton-Murray and Bayley 2012, 526-31) True location: ITM (699615, 773421) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 21 September 2020 See attached illustrations: _1 Early medieval features, from Knowth 5, Fig. 4:1 _2 Plan of metalworking, from Knowth 5, Fig. 4:39

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