Known as a cropmark, this kind of trace appears when buried features such as ditches or walls affect how plants grow above them, producing lines or curves that only become legible from the air. In this case, an aerial photograph captured the outline of a curvilinear enclosure defined by a fosse, the term used for a ditch that typically formed both a boundary and a modest defensive feature around a settlement or farmstead.

What makes the Dogstown site particularly intriguing is its density. The main enclosure is not alone. A smaller curvilinear enclosure sits immediately to its north-east, contiguous with it, suggesting the two were related in function or were in use at the same time. Further to the south, at roughly 70 metres and 170 metres respectively, lie a separate enclosure and a set of earthworks, hinting that this patch of Tipperary countryside once held a cluster of activity rather than a single isolated feature. Curvilinear enclosures of this type are generally associated with the early medieval period in Ireland, when ringforts and their related enclosures were a common form of rural settlement, though without excavation it is impossible to assign a precise date or function to any individual example.