It is, in fact, the remains of a fulacht fia, one of the most common yet persistently mysterious monument types in the Irish landscape. These sites typically consist of a horseshoe-shaped or kidney-shaped mound of shattered stone, the accumulated debris of repeated heating and cooling, built up around a trough dug into the earth nearby. The stones were heated in fire, dropped into the water-filled trough to bring it to the boil, and then discarded once they cracked, gradually forming the mound that survives today.

What fulachta fiadh were actually used for remains a matter of genuine debate among archaeologists. Cooking is the most widely accepted explanation, though brewing, hide preparation, and bathing have all been proposed with varying degrees of evidence. Most date to the Bronze Age, roughly 1500 to 500 BC, though examples span a wide chronological range. They cluster reliably near water and low-lying wet ground, which suits both the practical need for a ready water supply and the preserving qualities of boggy soil. The Scart example fits this pattern closely, sitting in marshy ground where the moisture has likely helped keep the mound intact beneath its covering of vegetation, even as it has made the site difficult to read at a glance.