What the excavation revealed was not walls or timber frames but something far more subtle: a shallow curvilinear foundation trench, its edges defined by kerbstones, enclosing a modest interior where pits, post-holes, and a hearth were still legible in the earth. The curved plan suggests a rounded or sub-circular structure, a form of domestic building common in medieval rural Ireland, where houses were often slight in their footprint and built from organic materials that left little behind.

Radiocarbon dating placed the use of the structure in the 13th century, a period when much of rural Munster was undergoing considerable upheaval and reorganisation in the wake of the Anglo-Norman arrival. What makes the Mondaniel find particularly interesting is that it did not stand alone. A second house of similar character was discovered just 28 metres to the south, suggesting at minimum a small cluster of occupation rather than a single isolated dwelling. Together, the two structures hint at a settled community, neighbours in some loose sense, going about the business of daily life on this patch of Cork farmland eight centuries ago. The excavation findings were published by Quinn in 2006.