A fulacht fia, the term used for a type of Bronze Age burnt mound associated with outdoor cooking or food preparation, typically consists of a horseshoe-shaped heap of fire-cracked stones and charcoal accumulated around a water-filled trough. This one, at Ballyhenry near Killiskey, was exposed during construction work on the Newtownmountkennedy to Ballynavarney Road Improvement Scheme, and only the portion falling within the road corridor was excavated.

Once the topsoil was stripped back, the burnt mound material revealed itself across an exposed area of roughly 15.7 metres east to west and 7 metres wide, sitting no deeper than about 25 centimetres at its thickest point. It rested on a grey-coloured natural deposit, and beneath the burnt material lay a series of natural depressions, the kind of low-lying hollows that would have made such a spot attractive to prehistoric users needing ready access to standing or collected water. Two modern field drains had already sliced through the mound before excavation began, a third appearing only after the burnt material was removed. Among the finds were six pieces of worked flint, small but telling traces of human activity at the site.