Longstone Rath is located on a height overlooking the Barna–Emly road, 1.6km (0.99mi) west-southwest of Cullen.
History and archaeology
The longstone, a lump of limestone about 2.3m (7ft 7in) in height, is located on a mound within a bivallate ringfort.[1] The site was excavated in 1973–76 by P. Danaher,[2] 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 (mid-Iron Age), with the rath being added about AD 600.[3][4][5]
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.[6]
Nearby is Cullen Bog in which votive offerings were placed including many gold and bronze artefacts.[7]
