Index for Neolithic Sunrise Calendars

Ardamore stone row     Southern Ireland

Location  52.132776   -10.158756

Dated -  unknown

Horizon view -                         middle and distant hills  (the Brandon group of mountains)

Horizon orientation -              the outlying stone gives an observation point from which the midsummer sunrise is marked by the visable Eastern end of the Brandon group of mountains, as per the photograph below,

Structure orientation -           the stone row aligns precisely on the first appearance of midsummer sunrise and closely to the midwinter sunset.  See photographs below.

Ardamore Stone Row consists of a structure of three stones in a line.  The stones are large flat slabs that do not look stable;  hence it is likely that reconstructions have taken place to an unknown accuracy.

There is a limited area of good farming land along the coast here that could have supported an ancient small settled community of a few hundreds -  sufficient to build the stone structure.

 There appears to be no stones locally of this size, so the three stones could have been brought down from the nearby Brandon group of mountains where rocky areas can be found.  If so this must have represented considerable effort for a small rural community, which indicates that the structure was of some importance.  It does not appear to have any function as a livestock pen or fortification, and the simple design would not make an impressive sacred site.  The only practical function seems to be as a pointer towards the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, which would be of importance to a pre-technology rural society.

 The area (the Dingle Peninsular) is very isolated, so the early farmers would need their own sunrise locator until comparatively recent times, up to the last couple of centuries.  This would explain why the stones are still upright, although their flatness would not be very stable.  They are starting to lean, as can be seen in the photographs below.

 An outlying stone marks an observation point from which can be seen the midsummer sunrise marked by the the visable Eastern end of the Brandon group of mountains