Local knowledge holds that the low mound contains burnt material, the characteristic signature of a fulacht fia, and yet when the ground was examined, the soil was notably dark but gave up no burnt stones. The absence is itself interesting. Fulachtaí fia, the plural of the term, are among the most common prehistoric monuments in Ireland, typically appearing as horseshoe-shaped or kidney-shaped mounds of heat-shattered stone accumulated over repeated use. They are generally associated with Bronze Age activity, and the prevailing interpretation is that they functioned as outdoor cooking sites, where stones were heated in fire and dropped into water-filled troughs to bring the liquid to a boil. The dark soil at Ballynoe fits the pattern of organic, fire-affected deposits, even if the stones themselves are not immediately visible at the surface.

What makes this particular spot quietly unusual is its relationship to a second, closely related site. Another fulacht fia lies roughly twenty-two metres to the north-east, close enough that the two monuments may represent repeated or overlapping episodes of activity at the same location across a long span of time. Whether they were used simultaneously, sequentially, or by communities separated by generations is impossible to say from surface inspection alone. Together, they mark Ballynoe as a place where prehistoric people returned, for whatever purpose, more than once.