The Minister for Arts, Heritage
and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, TD, today (Wednesday 20 June, 2012),
commemorated 50 years of excavations by Professor George Eogan at the
great
passage tomb at Knowth, Co Meath, dating back to 3,000 BC. The occasion was
marked by the launch of the fifth in a series of Knowth publications by
Professor Eogan - ‘The Archaeology of Knowth in the First and Second
Millennium AD’.
The Knowth passage tombs, along
with those at Newgrange and Dowth, form part of the Brú na Bóinne archaeological
complex inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. The Brú na Bóinne
tombs, in particular Knowth, contain the largest collection of megalithic art in
Western Europe. The archaeological excavations on the site have
contributed significantly to the knowledge of Ireland’s earliest farmers,
including burial places, rituals, ceremonies and the sophistication of their
society and economies.
“It is humbling to
think” the Minister said “that some 5,000 years ago, when these tombs
were built of the enormity of the effort which skilled craftsmen put into
creating these tombs and passage ways. These tombs are older than Stonehenge in
England and they are also older than the Pyramids in Egypt.”
Describing the world heritage
site at Brú na Bóinne as the ‘jewel in the crown of our cultural
heritage’, Minister Deenihan went onto say,
“the wonderful carved stones, together with
those at Newgrange and Dowth, constitute the largest collection of megalithic
art in the world. I cannot over
emphasise how important I believe it is for people to come and visit the Brú na
Bóinne site and witness first-hand the magnitude of the feat which was achieved
in building these mounds. It is by learning and honouring our past that we can
appreciate the present” added Minister Deenihan.
Minister Deenihan then presented
Professor Eogan with a replica of the basin stone found in the tomb as a memento
of his lifetime work at the site. The Minister remarked that Professor Eogan,
who first discovered the passage tomb in 1968, ‘was probably the first
person to see the chamber and the decorated stone basin since the
10th Century.’
The Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre, operated
by the Office of Public Works, is open all year round, with access to Knowth
available seven days a week from April to October.
The Archaeology of Knowth in
the First and Second Millennium AD, is published by the
Royal Irish Academy and can be purchased via their website - www.ria.ie.