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When Dr Ann Lynch of the Office of Public Works carried out her studies of the stone alignments of Cork and Kerry more than 30 years ago she designated the Ardamore stone row in Lispole as targeting the mid-winter solstice.
The site now attracts scores of people annually to witness the sunset during the shortest days of the year.
One puzzling element of the alignment is why did the Bronze Age community place the tallest stone at the northeastern end (N/E) rather than the southwestern end?
During the sunset, the observer at the N/E end is confronted with the tallest stone which blocks the sightline.
Of course, a wooden platform or an earthen mound could have provided a suitable vantage point
For some modern day observers the attraction of the Ardamore event is the length of the shadow cast by the tallest stone on December 21.
To them, having the tallest stone at the N/E end makes perfect sense.
However, this effect could be achieved with a single stone of any height because the length of the shadow will be proportional to the height of the stone.
But did the people who erected the stones between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago have a different purpose in mind?
Many years ago this writer, acting on a hunch, headed up to Ardamore before the rising full moon, around the time of the mid-winter solstice.
That night the moon rose exactly in the dip between two distant hills and directly in the sightline of the alignment.
It was a marvelous sight and much more impressive visually than the solstice event.
It seems unlikely that this occurrence is mere coincidence or the result of haphazard positioning of the stones.
Could the primary function of the alignment have been in relation to the moon and not the sun?
While Dr Lynch has identified several lunar stone alignments in her studies she did not list the Ardamore site among them.
The difficulty in capturing a lunar alignment on film is in predicting when exactly it will re-occur during the moon's 18.6/19-year cycle.
But there's no doubt that the event will be captured on film some day.
The accompanying image has been created to illustrate what was observed that night.
Archaeologists tell us that much more study and research is necessary on alignments to fully understand their functions.
Such studies require patience, an open mind and good weather conditions.
Published in
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