Experts sought to analyse human remains at Knowth

An international tendering process has begun to find experts to analyse human remains from an ancient site at Knowth in Co Meath.

Excavations at the site have been going on for 45 years since examinations first carried out in 1962 revealed the existence of 21 tombs, many of which contained deposits of cremated bones.

The area at Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth in the Boyne Valley constitute one of the biggest megalithic archaeological sites in the world, dating back to 3200 BC, 600 years before the Pyramids. It was declared a world heritage site by Unesco in 1993.

The site consists of one large tomb with two passage graves and 20 satellite tombs. It also contains the single largest collections of megalithic art in western Europe. The tender issued by the Department of the Environment yesterday is looking for an osteoarchaeologist and a team to analyse human remains from Tomb 1, the biggest in the Knowth complex.

Previous analysis of cremated bone from the eastern passage in Tomb 1 found a surprisingly small number of people had been interned there suggesting that the largest tomb was a burial chamber for a royal family.

Dr Hemal Thakore, from the University of Limerick, said the excavation of the western passage may hold answers to questions posed by the evacuation of the eastern passage. "There are a lot of questions that we need to answer. Boulders were brought for these tombs from as far away as Dundalk and further afield."