National Heritage Week, Ireland

Geber, J. (Advisor)
Jessica Smyth (Speaker)

Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Public Engagement – Public lecture/debate/seminar

Period	22 Aug 2024
Event type	Other
Location	Naul, IrelandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	Local

Documents & Links

Three mounds at Fourknocks, Co. Meath were excavated in the early 1950s by P.J. Hartnett of the National Museum of Ireland, revealing a Neolithic passage tomb and likely associated cremation site, and an Early Bronze Age burial mound (Fourknocks I, II and III). Fourknocks I and II contained nearly 100kg of cremated and unburnt human bone deposits that were only briefly assessed following excavation, and no radiocarbon dates were ever obtained. Our current understanding of the function and use of the Fourknocks monuments, as well as the complexity of Neolithic funerary rites that took place on the site, is thus limited. A new research project, funded by the Royal Irish Academy and led by Dr Jessica Smyth (University College Dublin) and Dr Jonny Geber (University of Edinburgh), is fully recording these remains to modern osteoarchaeological standards, giving us an exciting new insight into the adults and children deposited at Fourknocks and the communities and kin that laid their remains to rest. By revisiting the Fourknocks assemblage 80 years after it was excavated, this project is set to transform our understanding of how society and belief was structured in Neolithic Ireland.