What sets it apart is not its scale but the specificity of what was left behind, and what that deposit implies about how people were actually living in this part of Ireland during the Early Christian period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries.

Excavations carried out by Coleman in 1942 uncovered a single habitation layer, and all the finds came from within it. The objects recovered included iron and bronze items alongside worked bone and worked stone, placing the occupation firmly in the Early Christian period. Alongside these artefacts were the everyday remnants of a working domestic life: bird bones, fish shells, charcoal, and the bones of both domesticated and wild animals. The mix is telling. The presence of domesticated animals suggests settled habitation or at least repeated use by people keeping livestock, while wild animal bones and fish remains point to hunting and foraging as part of the same economy. Charcoal indicates fire, and therefore warmth, cooking, or craft activity within the cave itself. It is the kind of assemblage that does not suggest a single dramatic event but rather the slow accumulation of ordinary days.