Metalworking site

The National Monuments Service's description

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

References

Eogan, G. 2012 Excavations at Knowth 5: the archaeology of Knowth in the first and second millennia AD. Dublin. Royal Irish Academy.

Barton-Murray, R. and Bayley, J. 2012 Section: 7.4.4.4 Metalworking. in Eogan 2012, 526-34.