Longstone Rath


Longstone Rath is a ringfort and National Monument located in County Tipperary, Ireland.

Location

Longstone Rath is located on a height overlooking the Barna–Emly road, 1.6 km west-southwest of Cullen.

History and archaeology

The longstone, a lump of limestone about 2.3 m in height, is located on a mound within a bivallate ringfort. The site was excavated in 1973–76, where 4,000 potsherds, 6 complete vessels, over 400 flint scrapers, cremated bones and grooved ware pottery were found. The mound is thought to date from c. AD 1, with the rath being added about AD 600.
According to Prof. Peter Danaher, Carrowkeel-style bowls from the complex site at Longstone seem to indicate a transitory camp of passage-tomb folk, and the hilltop was also used by Beaker, Food Vessel and Urn peoples, indicating that the site was a "halting site" for many thousands of years before the longstone and rath were made.