These horseshoe-shaped mounds of burnt and shattered stone mark the sites of ancient cooking or processing places, typically found near water, where stones were heated in a fire and then dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to the boil. The example recorded at Ballyscanlan in County Clare is one such site, quietly occupying its place in a county already dense with prehistoric remains.

The term fulacht fia, sometimes translated loosely as "deer roast" or "cooking place of the wild deer", has been applied to these sites since the nineteenth century, though the name may be more romantic than accurate. Most fulachta fia date to the Bronze Age, roughly between 1500 and 500 BC, though some are earlier or later. The characteristic mound builds up over time from the accumulated cracked and fire-reddened stone discarded after each use, and the troughs themselves, often timber-lined, survive only where waterlogged conditions have preserved the organic material. Beyond their identification as burnt mound sites, the specific history of the Ballyscanlan example, its dimensions, condition, or excavation history, remains to be detailed in the published record.