Longstone Ráth (Tipperary)
The Longstone Ráth ( Irish Ráth na Cloiche Fada , German " Ráth des long stone" ) is located on a hill overlooking the road from Barna to Emly, about 1.6 km west-southwest of Cullen in County Tipperary in Ireland .
The "long stone" is an approximately 2.3 m high menhir ( English Standing Stone ) made of limestone , which is located in a double-walled ring fort that was excavated between 1973 and 1976. Six complete vessels were found, around 4,000 pieces of grooved ware , over 400 flint scrapers and burned bones. The hill was raised in the 1st century AD (Middle Iron Age ), the Ráth was added around 600 AD.
According to Peter Danaher, vessels in the Carrowkeel style point to a temporary camp of the Passage Tomb people. However, the site of the hill was also used by the Bell Beaker People and their successors, making the square an important center for thousands of years before the Ráth and Longstone were built.
Theories suggest that the stone in the ring is a fertility symbol.
literature
- James H. Brennan: A guide to Megalithic Ireland 1994 ISBN 1-85538-270-9
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 21.8 " N , 8 ° 17 ′ 51.9" W.