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Dowth: Beltaine sunrise

Near the start of Beltaine, the rising sun can light Dowth kerbstone K51, known as the Stone of the Seven Suns. These photographs follow that sunrise on 29 April 2006 as mist, trees and ground level delay the full illumination of the carvings.

Sunrise at 6:10am glowing orange and yellow behind a silhouette of trees, with a dark field in the foreground. 6:10am on 29 April 2006. The rising sun has to penetrate the early morning mist and fog and clear the trees to illuminate the Dowth mound and kerbstone K51 in particular.
Martin Brennan drawing of Dowth kerbstone K51 with a row of radiating sunburst motifs and other megalithic carvings. Dowth kerbstone K51, the Stone of the Seven Suns. Drawing by Martin Brennan.
Three Dowth kerbstones partly buried in a grassy bank, seen through a wire fence with wooden posts. Much more than trees obscures the sunbeam on K51: much of the stone is below ground level.
Dowth kerbstone K51 in grass at 6:20am, with faint carvings on its face beginning to catch sidelight. At 6:20am there is a hint of light at the top of Dowth kerbstone K51.
Dowth kerbstone K51 at 6:32am in warm sunlight, with a thin vertical shadow from a fence post across its face. By 6:32am there is a clear illumination of K51. A fence post casts the vertical shadow.
Close-up of a faint sunburst carving on Dowth kerbstone K51, lit by low morning sun with shadow along the left edge. By 7:30am the lower part of the stone is illuminated, highlighting one of the sun symbols.
Dowth kerbstone K51 at 7:31am in grass, with fence-post and wire shadows across its weathered carved face. Dowth kerbstone K51 at 7:31am.

More on Dowth, images of Dowth, and winter solstice sunsets.

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