Poulnabrone Under The Milky Way

Note: image watermark will NOT be shown on the delivered print.

I took this image of the Milky Way above Poulnabrone about 3 am in mid March. The skies were crystal clear, and the Milky Way was easily visible above the Dolmen. This was a 20 second exposure to allow as much light as possible in without distorting the image. The trails of 4 satellites can be also seen as they made their way across the sky during the 20 seconds the shutter was open.

Poulnabrone dolmen is an unusually large dolmen, or portal tomb located in The Burren, Co Clare.  Situated on one of the most desolate and highest points of the region, it comprises three standing portal stones supporting a heavy horizontal capstone, and dates to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC and 2900 BC.

When the site was excavated in 1986 and again in 1988, around 33 human remains, including those of adults, children were found buried underneath it, along with various stone and bone objects that would have been placed with them at the time of interment. Both the human remains and the burial objects date to between 3800 BC and 3200 BC