Have no doubt about it, the people who built the wedge dolmens knew what they were doing. The locations of these dolmens and their orientations display an acute observational sense: particularly the way the horizon is sighted in relation to the structures to indicate where, in its annual cycle, the sun is and in which direction it is going. Likewise for the moon in it’s monthly cycle.

A site for a dolmen was apparently chosen to facilitate an observer with an unrestricted view of the southern horizon, at its eastern and western extremities, where the sun’s movement intersects with readily identifiable features on land thus allowing the observer to mark the celestial events against suitable features on the landscape. Put simply, if there is a mountain visible on the horizon behind which the sun sets at Samhain, there will be no problem knowing when it’s Samhain. Also, the progress of the sun towards the mountain could be tracked so that they knew when it was approaching. This is the reason there are no wedge dolmens on the north side of the Mizen’s backbone: the southern horizon is not visible.

If you would like to know more about the wedge dolmens and the Bronze Age on the Mizen:

www.buythebook.ie/this-is-the-mizen/