Wedge tombs, so called because their gallery narrows and lowers from front to back in a characteristic wedge shape, represent the latest tradition of megalithic tomb-building in Ireland, generally dated to the late Neolithic and into the Early Bronze Age. Clare has an unusually high concentration of them, making the county something of a focal point for understanding how this funerary tradition spread and developed across the west of Ireland.

The Ballymihil tomb was documented by Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin as part of their systematic survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland, the first volume of which, covering County Clare, was published by the Stationery Office in Dublin in 1961. De Valera in particular devoted much of his academic career to cataloguing and interpreting these monuments, and the Clare volume remains a foundational reference for anyone working on the prehistory of the region. The survey brought together fieldwork, measurements, and comparative analysis across dozens of sites, placing each tomb within a wider pattern of distribution and construction.