An inverted photo of a Knowth kerbstone showing art.

Who What How When Where Why Pots & Basins Quartz Home Map Tour Megalithic art from Cairn I at Loughcrew. This stone had been dubbed 'the Fire Eye stone'.

Megalithic Art One of the best known aspects of these monuments is their art and ornamentation, a widely discussed and written about subject. To begin, these engravings are the earliest writings in Ireland and among the oldest in Europe. They are documents in stone written in a symbolic language which seems to incorporate the light and motion of the heavens. That these engravings deal with astronomical themes is demonstrated in several sites, where the artwork is illuminated by the light of the sun or moon at a chosen time in the cycle of the body in question. This is demonstrated at Cairn G , Carrowkeel (no artwork), Cairns Land T, Loughcrew and Boyne Valley sites in these pages. Knowth alone has 50% of the engraved stones in Ireland. Early engravings have been discovered in recent years on the chamber of Listohil monument at Carrowmore in Co Sligo. Heapstown Cairn, also in Sligo is known to have had several engraved stones, with perhaps an ogham stone standing at the top of the mound. Only one stone remains visible today, as many were robbed from the site in the last century. Some thoughts on ancient art: On Carpets - G. I. Gurdjieff He told me a great deal about carpets which, as he often said, represented one of the most ancient forms of art. He spoke of the ancient customs connected with carpet making in certain parts of Asia; of a whole village working together at one carpet; of winter evenings when all the villagers, young and old, gather together in one large building and, dividing into groups, sit or stand on the floor in an order previously known and determined by tradition. Each group then begins its own work. Some pick stones and splinters out of the wool. Others beat out the wool with sticks. A third group combs the wool. The fourth spins. The fifth dyes the wool. The sixth or maybe the twenty-sixth weaves the actual carpet. Men, women and children, old men and old women all have their own traditional work. And all the work is done to the accompanyment of music and singing. The women spinners with spindles in their hands dance a special dance as they work, and all the movements of all the people engaged in different work are like one movement in one and the same rhythm. Moreovereach locality has its own special tune, its own special songs and dances, connected with carpet making from time immemorial. P. D. Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous, 1949