A fulacht fia is a type of prehistoric cooking or industrial site, typically involving a water-filled trough into which fire-heated stones were dropped to raise the temperature, the cracked and discarded stones eventually accumulating into the low mounds that survive across the Irish landscape in considerable numbers.

Excavated in 2002, the pit at Curraheen measured 7.7 metres by 2.9 metres and reached a maximum depth of just over half a metre. The wooden trough inside it, positioned towards the western side, was a substantial piece of construction: more than three metres long and nearly two-thirds of a metre deep, built from planks laid on organic material and sealed along its sides with a thick layer of orange clay. At some point a further plank was inserted across the width of the trough, dividing it into two compartments. The western, smaller compartment contained heat-shattered stones and charcoal-enriched soil, suggesting active use; the eastern compartment had silted up gradually with peat and clay, which may indicate the two areas were not in use simultaneously. A second, smaller pit to the south-west also contained heat-shattered stones and charcoal, and a compact burnt spread was recorded at the north-eastern edge of the main pit. What makes the Curraheen site particularly notable, however, is its context: this was not an isolated find. The 2002 excavation revealed it to be one of a cluster of six fulachtaí fia and burnt mounds uncovered in the same area, with the nearest comparable site lying only about thirty metres to the east. That density of prehistoric activity along a relatively contained stretch of ground suggests this part of Cork was a place people returned to repeatedly, over what may have been a very long period.