Dawn, 22nd September 2012, the chamber within Cairn T on Slíabh na Callaighe, Loughcrew, Co. Meath, Ireland.Today is the Autumnal Equinox – the half way point between the solstices and the time of year when the position of the sun at sunset and sunrise changes as its most rapid pace. This morning, well before dawn, a crowd gathered on the top of the central hill at the Loughcrew megalithic complex, a passage tomb cemetery built in late stone age. At dawn on the equinox the rays of the rising sun shine directly into the very back chamber of the largest passage tomb, illuminating some extraordinary megalithic art carved roughly 5,000 thousand years ago by Ireland’s first farming communities, people possessing only stone and organic tools. These passage tombs are among Ireland’s earliest surviving buildings.

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