of a 4 m tall, 34 m diameter cairn. Access to the central chamber - via a 13 m artificial avenue of gabions - is possible. The chamber at the heart of the mound is a dolmen-like structure, with 6 orthostats. A single limestone slab - tilted at 6.1° - crowns the chamber. A rare example of Irish megalithic art outside of the Boyne valley, consisting of concentric circular carvings, can be seen on the front side of the roof slab (this is visible only in certain lighting conditions). A symbol described by Julian Cope as 'a strangely distorted tryfuss' has been carved on a stone inside. Bone and carbon material from Listoghil was carbon dated to approximately 3500 BC. The human bones found there were a mixture of cremated, and un-cremated bones; the older, smaller tombs around it generally contain burnt bones. Extensive burning took place on the area of the site before the chamber was erected. Alignment Listoghil points at a low saddle-like formation in the Ballygawley Mountains, 6.5 km to the east-southeast. Sunrise in this position coincides with the start and the end of winter, which are traditionally important seasonal festivals in the Gaelic calendar. This happens on 31 October and on 10 February in our modern calendar, dates which do not coincide exactly with a modern astronomical cross-quarter day. But the alignment with the axis of the chamber and the illumination of the chamber by sunlight coincides to the day with that of another Neolithic passage tomb, the Mound of the Hostages at the heart of the Tara complex. References Sources Tombs for Hunters, Burenhult, G, British Archaeology 82, 2005, pp22–27 The Megalithic European, Cope, J, Harper Collins, London, 2004 Letter from Petrie to Larcom, Aug 12 1837. Ordnance Survey Letters, Royal Irish Academy, Shelf Mark 14 F 14 No 45 Archaeological sites in County Sligo Megalithic monuments in Ireland 4th-millennium BC architecture