Ringforts, known in Irish as raths when they are earthen and cashels when built of stone, are among the most common archaeological monument types in Ireland, with tens of thousands recorded across the country. They served primarily as enclosed farmsteads during the early medieval period, roughly 500 to 1000 AD, their raised banks and ditches offering a degree of protection for a family and their livestock rather than any serious military defence. The one at Rostoohy is, in that sense, part of a very large family.