Other evidence of Neolithic activity has also been identified in the vicinity of the megaliths. Excavation by the Oxford Archaeological Unit in the late 1990s revealed the existence of a Neolithic longhouse close to the White Horse Stone. It was stylistically very similar to longhouses belonging to the linearbandkeramic (LBK) and post-LBK cultures of central and north-western Europe, which are dated to the 5th and 6th millennia BCE. Three of the building's post holes contained sherds of Early Neolithic ceramic Plain Bowls, which were radiocarbon dated to 4110–3530 cal BCE. In the vicinity, sherds of Clacton-style Grooved Ware and Mortlake-style Peterborough ware ceramics were also found, dating from the Mid-to-Late Neolithic, suggesting that activity continued at the site over a long period of time (c.3750–2250 BCE). It is not known what the purpose of the longhouse was, or whether it was primarily domestic or ritualistic in function, although excavators expressed their opinion that it was probably domestic and communal in use. Conversely, the archaeologist Paul Ashbee thought it likely that it was a "cult-house" on the basis of its isolated nature. Evidence of a smaller, circular building was found to the south-east of the longhouse, although this might have been later in date. Ashbee highlighted that the stone long barrows stylistically emulated the wooden long houses, and that this was probably an act of conscious imitation.