It does not appear on any of the historic OS mapping that recorded so much of Ireland's landscape in painstaking detail during the nineteenth century, which makes its eventual identification all the more telling. What lies at Bunavie is a probable ring-barrow, a type of prehistoric funerary monument consisting of a low central mound enclosed by a circular ditch, or fosse, sometimes with an outer bank. They are generally associated with Bronze Age burial practice, though the precise age and function of any individual example requires excavation to confirm.

The monument at Bunavie came to formal attention through aerial reconnaissance rather than ground survey. During the Bruff aerial photographic survey of 1986, the site was identified as a circular-shaped conjoined earthwork, meaning it appeared to be joined to a second possible ring-barrow immediately to its east-southeast, recorded separately under reference LI024-126002-. The two features together form what the survey classified as a conjoined earthwork, a pairing that is not especially common and adds a layer of interest to what might otherwise seem an unremarkable rise in the ground. Subsequent overhead imagery confirmed the monument's survival: Digital Globe orthophotos taken between 2011 and 2013, and a Google Earth image captured in November 2018, both show the circular earthwork clearly, defined by its distinct fosse and measuring approximately eleven metres in diameter. The record was compiled by Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly and uploaded in July 2020.

The site sits within working farmland, so access would depend on landowner permission and should not be assumed. Because the earthwork is so subtle at ground level, it reads far more clearly from the air or on satellite imagery than it does on foot, where the slight rise and surrounding fosse can easily be mistaken for a natural undulation in the pasture. Anyone visiting with the relevant permissions would benefit from consulting the Google Earth orthoimage referenced in the survey record before heading out, as orienting yourself to what you are looking at makes the monument considerably easier to read in the field. The west-facing slope means afternoon light can cast low shadows that help define the fosse, particularly outside the summer months when the grass is shorter and less likely to obscure the ground detail.