But the C-shaped form sitting in a field at Baur is the remains of a fulacht fia, one of Ireland's most common yet least understood prehistoric monument types. These are essentially ancient cooking sites, where stones were heated in a fire and then dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it rapidly to the boil. The horseshoe or crescent shape characteristic of so many fulachta fiadh is formed by the gradual accumulation of discarded, fire-cracked stones, split and spent after repeated heating and cooling. They are found in their thousands across Ireland, typically close to water, and usually dated to the Bronze Age, though their precise function, cooking, bathing, textile processing, or some combination, continues to generate debate among archaeologists.

The Baur example sits on level ground within what appears to be a multiperiod field system, meaning the landscape around it has been worked and reorganised across several different eras. The mound itself measures roughly 7.4 metres on its longer axis and rises to between 0.4 and 0.8 metres on its outer face, with the interior somewhat lower at around 0.3 metres. The open end faces northwest, partly enclosing a slightly raised level area that would once have contained the working trough. A pond lies approximately ten metres to the southeast, which fits the pattern well; proximity to a reliable water source was a practical necessity for this kind of site. A ridge rises some fifty metres to the north, and an enclosure of separate date and character sits roughly sixty metres to the north-northwest, suggesting that this corner of County Clare was a busy and layered place long before anyone thought to record it.