A ring barrow is a low circular burial mound enclosed by a surrounding ditch and, often, an outer bank, constructed during the Bronze Age as a monument to the dead. They are found across Ireland in varying states of preservation, sometimes reduced to little more of a crop mark visible from the air, sometimes still legible as a distinct earthen form on the ground.

The townland name Carrowjames derives from the Irish, with "ceathrú" meaning a quarter, a land division used historically to describe a portion of territory. Mayo is particularly dense with prehistoric funerary monuments, a reflection of the intensity of Bronze Age settlement across the west of Ireland during the second and third millennia BC. Ring barrows of this type were typically associated with individual or small-group burials, sometimes containing cremated remains, sometimes accompanied by pottery or other grave goods, though the specifics of what lies beneath any given mound depend entirely on whether excavation has taken place.

Beyond its classification as a ring barrow in Carrowjames, the detailed history of this particular monument remains undocumented in publicly available sources at present, which is itself a reminder of how much of Ireland's prehistoric record is still being catalogued and assessed.