A cist is essentially a small stone-lined box grave, typically constructed from flat slabs set on edge to form the sides and covered by a capstone, and designed to hold a single crouched inhumation or a cremated deposit. They date most commonly to the Bronze Age, roughly 2500 to 500 BC, and are found scattered across Ireland in fields, under ploughed soil, and occasionally exposed by erosion or agricultural work. Their simplicity is part of what makes them so striking; these were deliberate, careful constructions for the dead, built by people who left almost no other trace.

The townland name Carrowbeg derives from the Irish An Cheathrú Bheag, meaning the small quarter, referring to a division of land. Galway is particularly rich in prehistoric remains, and cist burials in the west of Ireland have sometimes yielded grave goods such as pottery vessels, flint tools, or bronze ornaments, though not every example contains anything beyond skeletal remains. Without more detailed records currently available for this specific site, the precise circumstances of its discovery, its dimensions, or any associated finds remain uncertain.