Ирландиядағы Дуда тұрғын үйінің неолиттік қабір тасы

Neolithic passage tomb located in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland

Dowth (Dubhadh) is a Neolithic passage tomb near the River Boyne in County Meath, Ireland. It is one of the three main tombs of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site, along with Newgrange and Knowth. Its features align it with the other passage tombs, which date from around 3200 BC. Unlike its bigger neighbours, Dowth has mostly been left as a ruin, although its smaller inner chambers are largely intact. The Royal Irish Academy carried out a botched excavation in 1847, leaving a large crater in the mound that has never been repaired. with a lintelled (not corbelled as in Newgrange or Knowth) roof. Dowth South is 3.5 metres long and ends in a roughly circular chamber with a modern concrete roof (the original roof having collapsed). This may be the earliest part of the tomb, later brought within the design of the cruciform tomb. This annex is floored with a 2.4 metre long flagstone containing an oval bullaun (artificial depression). Until recently the cruciform tomb was reached by climbing down a ladder in an iron cage, and crawling about over loose stones. Now, access is restricted, and all the features are guarded by metal grills. A kerbstone with cup marks, a spiral, and a flower like design marks the entrance to Dowth South. While the current roof is modern, it is possible the original one was corbelled, as at Newgrange. The mound originally had about 115 kerbstones surrounding it. Kerbstone 51, sometimes called the Stone of the Seven Suns, features a number of radial circular carvings, This large crater has still not been repaired. However, Harbison (1970) dates the tomb at 25002000 BC. Archaeological and geophysical field surveys of the entire site, including later monuments, were carried out episodically from 2012 2015. In July 2018, another passage tomb in the grounds of nearby Dowth Hall was excavated, revealing significant examples of Neolithic rock art similar to those at Dowth and the other Brú na Bóinne sites.

Dowth shares a special solar celebration with neighbouring Newgrange during the winter solstice. Martin Brennan, author of The Stars and the Stones: Ancient Art and Astronomy in Ireland Thames and Hudson 1983, discovered the remarkable alignment during the course of his ten year study in the Boyne Valley. From November to February the rays of the evening sun reach into the passage and then the chamber of Dowth South. During the winter solstice the light of the low sun moves along the left side of the passage, then into the circular chamber, where three stones are lit up by the sun. The convex central stone reflects the sunlight in to a dark recess, lighting up the decorated stones there. The rays then recede slowly along the right side of the passage and after about two hours the sun withdraws from Dowth South. This tale has been linked with solstice alignments at Brú na Bóinne. It has also been linked with recent DNA analysis, which found that a man buried at nearby Newgrange had parents who were most likely siblings. This could mean that knowledge of the events survived for thousands of years before being recorded as a myth in the Middle Ages.