It is, in fact, the remains of a fulacht fia, one of the most common yet consistently overlooked monument types in the Irish countryside. The term refers to a prehistoric cooking site, typically identified by a horseshoe-shaped mound of fire-cracked stone, charcoal, and dark, burnt earth. The working principle was straightforward: stones were heated in a fire, then dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to boiling point, and the discarded, shattered stones gradually accumulated into the mound that survives today.

The proximity to the spring is entirely typical. Fulachtaí fia, which date broadly to the Bronze Age, are almost always found close to a reliable water source, whether a stream, a bog pool, or, as here, a spring. The spring would have supplied the water essential to the whole process. What remains at Raheen is described as a grass-covered spread of burnt material, which, understated as that sounds, represents the accumulated debris of repeated use over what may have been a considerable period. Thousands of these sites have been recorded across Ireland, yet each one represents a specific, chosen location, selected because water was near and fuel was available.