The mound was a fulacht fia, a type of site found in considerable numbers across Ireland and generally interpreted as a Bronze Age cooking place. The basic principle involves heating stones in a fire, dropping them into a water-filled trough to bring it to the boil, and using that heat to cook meat. Over time, the cracked and spent stones accumulate into a characteristically horseshoe-shaped mound, dark with charcoal and shattered rock, which is often how these sites are first identified from the surface.

Excavation ran from 20 May to 11 June 2002, uncovering the remnants of the mound along with two associated troughs. The location fits a pattern well established for this type of monument: close to water, on low-lying or marshy ground. Here, the site sits adjacent to the stream and bordered to the west by flat marshland, while to the east the land rises sharply on a hill climbing to over 90 metres. No datable finds came from the excavation, which is not unusual; fulachta fiadh rarely yield the kind of material culture that pins them to a specific period, and their Bronze Age attribution rests largely on accumulated evidence from comparable sites across the country.