In this episode of Amplify Archaeology Neil chats with Dr Kerri Cleary about Professor George Eogan’s excavations at Knowth.

There are few places as deeply layered in stories as Knowth. Located in the famous bend of the Boyne like its near neighbour Newgrange, Knowth has been a place of significance for millennia. Through the Neolithic as a place of settlement and ritual, an Iron Age ancestral burial ground, an early medieval ‘royal’ residence of the kings of North Brega, and activity continued through the medieval period and onwards. Today Knowth is part of the celebrated Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site, and visited by thousands of people every year. Its complex story was uncovered in a truly monumental series of excavations led by the late Professor George Eogan. In this episode of Amplify Archaeology Podcast, Neil chats with Dr Kerri Cleary who discusses those excavations and George’s incredible legacy in Irish archaeology, and describes the story of Knowth through time. Kerri is the co-author of a fantastic new guidebook to Knowth published by the Royal Irish Academy, that provides a wonderfully accessible introduction to this incredible archaeological complex.

The images here are all courtesy of the Royal Irish Academy.

Excavations at Knowth – Key Discussion Points

• What and where is Knowth? – 2 min 14 secs
• Professor George Eogan – 5 min 40 secs
• Kerri’s links with Knowth – 9 min 05 secs
• What was Knowth like before George started work? – 11 min 04 secs
• What was the background to the excavation? – 14 min 40 secs
• The experience of the excavation– 18 min 18 secs
• The excavations at Knowth and Newgrange overlap, did they influence each other? – 21 min 55 secs
• The chronology of Knowth, beginning with its earliest origins – 25 min 30 secs
• The megalithic art at Knowth – 34 min 03 secs
• Knowth in the Bronze Age – 40 min 12 secs
• Knowth in the Iron Age – 44 min 15 secs
• Knowth in the Early Medieval Period – 48 min 39 secs
• The Mythology of Knowth – 52 min 40 secs
• Knowth as part of the World Heritage Site – 57 min 20 secs
• Knowth as part of the World Heritage Site – 57 min 20 secs
• The Guidebook to Knowth – 1 hour 04 min 17 secs
• The Knowth Macehead – 1 hour 09 min 41 secs

Show notes and links to further information

• You can pick up a copy of the brilliant new guidebook from the Royal Irish Academy here.
• And you can enjoy a deep dive into the details of the excavations at Knowth in the seven volume series now available Open Access on the Digital Repository of Ireland here.
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