Abstract
A new survey of Drombeg Stone Circle and accurate analysis of shadow effects beginning at particular sunrises of the calendar year has led to a breakthrough in the understanding of lithic symbolism and the intentions behind the construction of this and other Irish monuments including Knowth and Newgrange that also have astronomical alignments. 
 At Drombeg specific standing stones play critical roles at sunrise for all eight of the festival dates as known traditionally and historically for agricultural communities and as now inferred for prehistoric times following the present observation-based analysis.
 Crucial for Drombeg in the summer half of the year is the positioning of a tall straight-sided portal stone such that its shadow at midsummer sunrise encounters an engraving on the recumbent stone diametrically opposite. During subsequent minutes the shadow moves away allowing the light of the sun to fall on the carved symbol. It is the same for sunrises at Beltane (May Day), Lughnasadh (Lammas), and the equinoxes when shadows from other perimeter stones achieve the same coupling with the same image, each time soon replaced by sunlight. For the winter half of the year which includes dates for Samhain, the winter solstice and Imbolc, the target stone for shadow reception at sunrise is a huge lozenge-shaped megalith, artificially trimmed. Moreover, for 22 March and 21 September there is notable dramatic action by shadow and light between a precisely positioned narrow pillar stone and the lozenge stone.
 As a result, at sunrise at Drombeg eight calendrical shadow events have been witnessed and photographed. This attests to the precision of Neolithic planning that determined the stone positions, and demonstrates the antiquity of the calendar dates for these traditional agricultural festivals. Discussion is held as to what the concept of shadow casting between shaped or engraved stones at the time of sunrise may have meant in terms of lithic symbolism for the planners and builders. This leads to a possible explanation in terms of the ancient worldview known as the hieros gamos or the Marriage of the Gods between Sky and Earth.
Highlights
During the 2500 years of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Britain and Ireland, megaliths played a huge role in the communal lives of the early farming peoples who raised and used the stones.An early practice was the preparation of a sacred area of land by digging a circular ditch creating a contiguous circular bank
Stones were often selected for the shape of their lithic outline or for natural marks on them resulting from geological processes (Drombeg, Stone 1)
Shapes were improved by tooling (e.g., Stonehenge) to satisfy criteria deemed important to the sculptors - while at times, symbols were carved on selected stones
Summary
An early practice was the preparation of a sacred area of land by digging a circular ditch creating a contiguous circular bank. This was the birth of a simple earthen monument termed a henge (like the Priddy Circles in Somerset). Alignments to solar risings or settings were featured, sometimes in relation to a standing stone positioned outside the monument. This includes Stonehenge (Cleal et al 1995: 269-270) and Knowth (Eogan 1986: 47, 65, Plates 9 and 15).
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