These are the hallmarks of a burnt mound, a type of prehistoric site found across Ireland and Britain, typically the accumulated debris of repeated heating and discarding of stones used to boil water. The stones crack and fragment under the thermal stress and are thrown aside, building up over time into the characteristic spread that survives today.

The mound came to light in 2003 during advance works for the N8 Rathcormac-Fermoy Bypass and was subsequently excavated. It sat roughly 120 metres east of the Shanowennadrimina Stream, a proximity that fits the pattern well, since burnt mound activity almost always required a reliable water source close at hand. Interestingly, excavation found no associated trough, the wooden or stone-lined pit that typically held the water being heated, which is usually considered the operational heart of such a site. Whether the trough was destroyed, lay just outside the excavated area, or was never present remains unclear. What excavators did find, just 2.5 metres to the south, was a fulacht fia, a related site type, essentially a cooking or industrial place built around the same principle of fire-heated stones and water. The two features sitting in such close proximity suggests this stretch of ground beside the stream saw sustained prehistoric use, though the exact relationship between the two sites is difficult to unpick from the excavated evidence alone.