What was uncovered turned out to be a fulacht fia, the term used for a type of prehistoric cooking or processing site found in considerable numbers across Ireland and Britain. The typical interpretation is that stones were heated in a fire, dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to the boil, and used to cook meat or process other materials. The mound itself is the accumulated debris of those fractured, heat-spent stones, discarded after each use.

Excavations carried out in 2006, ahead of construction work on the landfill, revealed a mound measuring twenty metres by fifteen metres, four separate troughs, two of which retained the remains of timber lining, and at least four hearths. The wooden lining of the troughs is a detail worth pausing on: it indicates deliberate effort to create a watertight vessel capable of holding water at sustained heat, and its survival over such a span of time is unusual. Radiocarbon dating placed activity at the site across two distinct periods, one falling between approximately 1770 and 1600 BC and a later phase dating to between 1380 and 1120 BC. That gap of roughly two to four centuries between the two phases suggests the site was not in continuous use but was returned to, perhaps by communities separated by several generations, who found the same spot suitable for the same purpose.