It is made almost entirely of burnt and shattered stone, and that is precisely what makes it remarkable. This is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found in considerable numbers across Ireland, typically dating to the Bronze Age. The name, loosely translated, refers to a cooking place associated with deer or wild animals, though the function of these sites has been debated by archaeologists for decades.

The basic mechanics of a fulacht fia involve heating stones in a fire until they are extremely hot, then dropping them into a water-filled trough to bring the water to a boil. The stones crack and shatter in the process, and after repeated use the discarded fragments accumulate into the horseshoe-shaped or circular mounds that survive in the landscape today. The mound at Dromahoe is circular in plan, which is one of the recognised variations in form, and its dimensions suggest a substantial accumulation of material over time. Whether it was used for cooking, bathing, textile processing, or some combination of purposes, as various theories have proposed, the mound itself is a direct physical record of repeated activity, fire, water, and broken stone, carried out by people working in this part of Cork perhaps three or four thousand years ago.