The smaller of the two, roughly 67 by 62 centimetres and subcircular in shape, sat in the ground holding a concentration of charcoal and the reddened, oxidised soil that comes from sustained exposure to heat. Beside it lay a spread of rake-out material, similarly scorched, measuring about 60 by 40 centimetres.

The two pits came to light in 2001 during archaeological testing and monitoring carried out ahead of road construction, and were subsequently excavated. Burnt pits of this kind are often associated with fulachta fiadh, a class of prehistoric cooking site found widely across Ireland, typically identified by a mound of heat-shattered stone, a hearth, and a trough, though not every burnt pit belongs to that tradition. The rake-out material here refers to the debris cleared from a fire or hearth, the ash, charcoal, and spent fuel pushed to one side during or after use. That both pits and the associated spread showed oxidisation confirms they were not simply receptacles for discarded material but were themselves exposed to fire, either as the source or as a consequence of repeated heating nearby. The excavation was reported by Noonan, whose findings were later incorporated into the fifth volume of the Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, published in 2009.