Ceremonial stone setting

The National Monuments Service's description

Four areas with stone settings were established outside the kerb of Tomb 1C, the most elaborate being outside the entrances to the E and W tombs but another is just SE of the mound. Two small related areas are adjacent to Tomb 16, and a fifth setting is associated with Tomb 4. Outside the entrance to Tomb 1C East there are seven stone settings that were covered in a D-shaped spread of exotic stones (dims c. 16m N-S; c. 5m E-W; max. D 0.4m) centred on the entrance to the tomb, although the original extent of this spread may have been greater. One setting (diam. 1.25m) is just outside the entrance kerbstone (K11) and there are three to the N and two to the S, most abutting kerbstones of the great mound. The settings are small (dims 0.7-2m) and defined by contiguous low stones set on edge, some with gaps in the perimeters and most with cobbled surfaces.
The principal stone setting (diam. 4.2m N-S; 3.3m plus E-W)is opposite the entrance kerbstone (K11) to the tomb and its centre was slightly dished. It was also paved, with two layers of stones in places, and when excavated it was covered with a patchy spread of quartz chips. Dispersed 0.25m outside the perimeter were 14 surviving stones of an arc SW-N, including a standing stone opposite the tomb entrance. This is a limestone with a rectangular cross-section (dims 0.23m x 0.2m; L 1.6m) which had been lying on the spread of exotic stones but is now set upright. These features are conserved outside the entrance to Tomb 1C East. Although Tomb 1C has no solar alignment with the rising sun at the equinox, the shadow of this stone does fall on K11 at that time. (Eogan and Cleary 2017, 232-40)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 21 September 2020

See the attached illustration:
_1 Plan of stone settings, from Knowth 6, Fig. 2:53

References

Eogan, G. and Cleary, K. 2017 Excavations at Knowth 6: The Passage Tomb Archaeology of the Great Mound at Knowth. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin