In 2008, ahead of the second phase of development at Ballynagran Landfill, excavators uncovered a cluster of features that pointed clearly to people having lived and worked on this patch of ground long ago: pits, post-holes, stake-holes, slot trenches, and a spread of charcoal. Individually, each of these is a fairly modest thing, but together they form the kind of signature that archaeologists recognise as the residue of a settlement, a place where structures once stood, fires were lit, and the soil was cut and dug for purposes that mattered to whoever was there.

Post-holes and stake-holes are the ghosts of upright timbers, the kind that once held up walls or fences or roof supports. Slot trenches, narrow cuts running along the ground, often mark where timber sill-beams were laid as the foundations of wooden buildings. The charcoal spread suggests burning nearby, whether from a hearth, a cleared structure, or some other activity involving fire. The excavation was carried out under licence 08E0810, and the findings were subsequently published by Kelleher in 2011. No dating evidence is mentioned in the available record, which means the precise period of occupation remains an open question, the site is identified simply as a habitation site, without being pinned to any particular era of Irish prehistory or the early historic period.