This is a boulder-burial, a funerary monument type found mainly in the southwest of Ireland, in which a substantial slab, typically left rough and unworked, is raised above the ground on low supports to cover what was likely a burial deposit beneath. The cover-stone here was originally a roughly rectangular block, measuring around 1.30 metres by 1.20 metres and standing 0.55 metres high, though a split has divided it into two pieces, one section now resting at an angle above the three support-stones that hold it clear of the ground.

What makes the Gorteanish example particularly interesting is its relationship to the stone circle immediately to its north. The two monuments are close enough to suggest they formed part of the same ritual landscape, whether that means they were contemporary, or that one was placed in deliberate reference to the other. A second, possible boulder-burial has been identified about six metres further north, actually within the stone circle itself, which deepens the sense that this small patch of Cork countryside was a place of some ceremonial significance during the prehistoric period. Boulder-burials are concentrated in Counties Cork and Kerry, and while their exact dating remains a matter of ongoing discussion among archaeologists, many are thought to belong broadly to the Bronze Age.