That scale is notable. Fulachtaí fia, the plural of fulacht fia, are among the most common prehistoric monuments in Ireland; they are essentially outdoor cooking places where water was heated by dropping fire-cracked stones into a trough, then used to boil food. The burnt and shattered stones were discarded into a mound nearby. Individual sites are usually modest in extent, which makes the Drumcar example, with its 12 distinct spreads of burnt material, two possible troughs, and 14 associated pits, an unusually complex concentration.

Archaeological testing carried out in 2021 by L. Clarke, under licence 20E0443, was prompted by works along the Drumcar Road near Dunleer. The burnt stone spreads range considerably in size, from patches of around 1.3 metres by 0.85 metres up to a substantial 12.3 metres by 5.6 metres. The two rectangular features interpreted as possible troughs measure roughly 1.5 metres by 0.7 metres and 1.4 metres by 0.7 metres, and both contained denser accumulations of burnt stone. The 14 circular pits, ranging from about 0.55 metres to 2.4 metres in diameter, held black sandy clays, the kind of dark, charcoal-rich deposit typically associated with prolonged burning activity. Running through the same area, a larger V-shaped ditch, over 24 metres long, crossing the site on a northwest to southeast alignment, may belong to a later medieval phase, suggesting the landscape here was in active use across more than one period. The site sits in the valley of a small stream that feeds into the White River some 400 metres to the west, a location consistent with the water-dependent nature of fulacht fia activity. Only the upper portions of all these features were examined during testing, and the entire area has been preserved in situ beneath the ground surface.