When construction work for a residential development by Cairn Homes began in 2020, archaeologists from IAC Archaeology excavated a burial ground measuring roughly 12.4 metres by 6 metres, containing twelve burials and seven clusters of disarticulated human bone, all clustered within a localised sandy deposit sitting atop that geological ridge. No burials were found outside the gravel, suggesting that whoever laid out this cemetery understood the terrain and selected this elevated, well-drained strip of ground quite deliberately.

The excavation, directed by Muireann Ní Cheallacháin under licence 17E0292, had been anticipated for some years before the diggers arrived. A geophysical survey carried out by Joanna Leigh in 2015 had detected two clear circular ditch responses, roughly 11.25 and 12.25 metres in diameter, correlating with crop marks visible in aerial imagery as far back as a Google Earth image from July 2013. Those marks hinted at ring-ditches, which are the circular earthwork remnants typically associated with prehistoric funerary monuments, set within a larger, loosely defined enclosure. Testing in 2017 by Rob Lynch and Enda Lydon confirmed several areas of archaeological interest. What eventually emerged was a densely layered site: the flat cemetery sat alongside token cremation burial pits, two ring-ditches, a ploughed-out burnt spread, and a large stone-lined kiln, all within a plectrum-shaped enclosure ditch. The burials themselves were shallow and heavily disturbed by centuries of ploughing, their grave cuts rounded and rectangular in shape. Most of the skeletal remains were fragmented, though three graves yielded more complete skeletons. The graves lay in loosely defined rows, oriented roughly south-west to north-east. Several contained small finds: flint in four graves, a metal loop in one, and, most intriguingly, a fragment of degraded antler tine recovered near the skull of one individual, a placement that excavators considered likely deliberate rather than incidental.