Longstone Rath (Kildare)
The Longstone Rath of Furness (4.7 km east of Naas ) is located in the townland of Punchestown Great, in County Kildare in Ireland is a 1912 by RA Stewart Macalister (1870-1950) excavated large earthwork , in the center of which is a menhir (pillarstone) . This "Longstone" gave the plant its name.
There is a council of the same council in County Tipperary .
Behind the “Furness House” and the church lies the 160 m high Fornochta (the “naked mountain”), from which the name Furness is derived. On its summit lies the large, round earth ring, which is over 4,000 years old. It has a diameter of about 60 m, two passages and the wall is 3.0–4.5 m high.
The approximately six meter high menhir "Forenaghts Great" made of granite , a rock that only occurs 16 km to the east, is set in a foundation that is 0.9 m deep in the earth and carved out of the rock. A stone box was erected at the foot of the Longstone , in which MacAlister found two cremation burials, including the bones of a woman and a dog / wolf with some additions. The stone box contained a bronze ring and a double-perforated stone arm protection plate . Apparently, bell-beaker people who lived around 2500 BC BC came to the island, the stone box, the longstone and other menhirs, whose Irish name is Gallán or Dallán . Two layers of ash were found inside the council. Perhaps the council had been filled with sticks that were burned on some occasions.
There are many theories about the function of the earthworks that continue the Henge tradition. Possibly they had religious significance; hence the burials. Other theories suggest that the stone in the ring is a fertility symbol.
literature
- James H. Brennan: A guide to Megalithic Ireland London, Aquarian / Thorsons 1994. ISBN 1-85538-270-9
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 13 ′ 25 ″ N , 6 ° 36 ′ 30 ″ W.