The mound at Ballydowny is what archaeologists call a fulacht fia, a type of site found in great numbers across Ireland, typically dating to the Bronze Age. The name refers to the characteristic spread of fire-cracked stone that accumulates when rocks are repeatedly heated and plunged into water-filled troughs to bring the water to a boil. The stones fracture under the thermal shock and are eventually discarded in a heap beside the trough, building up over time into the irregular mound that tends to survive into the present.

The Ballydowny example came to light in 2002, when excavation was carried out ahead of housing development in the area. Beneath the mound, which also contained charcoal, excavators uncovered two separate troughs set roughly two metres apart. One of these was subcircular in shape, approximately 1.7 metres in diameter, and its fill included a small concentration of animal bones. The bones hint, cautiously, at food preparation of some kind, though fulachta fiadh have also been interpreted as sites for textile processing or bathing; the honest answer is that their precise function remains debated. What the bones at Ballydowny do confirm is that whatever was happening here, animals were part of it.