The archaeology of height – cultural meaning in the relativity of Irish megalithic tomb siting

Exploring sacred mountains around the world, the book examines whether bonding and reverence to a mountain is intrinsic to the mountain, constructed by people, or a mutual encounter. This chapter explores mountains in Ireland and embraces the union of sky, landscape and people to examine the religious dynamics between human and non-human entities.This chapter take as its starting point the fact that mountains physically mediate between land and sky and act as metaphors for bridges from one realm to another, recognising that mountains are relational and that landscapes form personal and group cosmologies. The chapter fuses ideas of space, place and material religion with cultural environmentalism and takes an interconnected approach to material religio-landscapes. In this way it fills the gap between lived religious traditions, personal reflection, phenomenology, historical context, environmental philosophy, myths and performativity.