5,500-year-old tomb discovered at Dowth is ‘find of a lifetime’
TEAM HOPES THEY CAN FIND HUMAN REMAINS AND DOMESTIC ARTEFACTS ON THE SITE
THE uncovering of the 5,500-year-old passage tomb at Dowth Hall at the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage site shows the Boyne Valley is a living landscape, with a wealth of secrets yet to be revealed.
The ancient burial chamber, believed to be about 40m in diameter and half the size of nearby Newgrange, was discovered last week during archaeological investigations by the agri-technology company Devenish and UCD school of archaeology.
Devenish’s lead architect for the project, Dr Clíodhna Ní Lionáin, said that for the archaeologists involved in the discovery, it was ‘very exciting’ and ‘ truly the find of a lifetime’.
‘We are probably a little blaze about it now working here all the time, but when you see someone new come in and see it for the first time, it hits you,’ she says with a smile.
‘It is hugely significant and allows us to explore how these people lived and understand how they constructed these tombs.’
Dr Steve Davis UCD School of Archaeology says the run of recent discoveries in the past fortnight is just a coincidence but shows how prolific the region is in terms of heritage and archeology.
‘Work has been going on in Dowth since 2012, and the excavation for the past year, while Anthony Murphy’s find was a total fluke,’ he says with a smile.
‘Obviously we hope work can continue and the goal would be to find remains and other articfacts similar to the passage tomb at Newgrange.’
To date, two burial chambers have been discovered within the western part of the main passage tomb, over which a large stone cairn (c.40m diameter) was raised. The six kerbstones that have been identified so far would have formed part of a ring of stones that followed the cairn perimeter. One kerbstone is heavily decorated with Neolithic carvings and represents one of the most impressive discoveries of megalithic art in Ireland for decades. During the course of this project, a further two possible satellite tombs were also found.
‘Devenish invested in this farm at Dowth because of its fertile soil, its location beside the Boyne and its beautiful landscape,’ Owen Brennan, Executive Chairman of Devenish said:
‘From our archaeological research, it seems we made the decision for the same reasons as a long line of our farming colleagues from the Neolithic times.’