They are rough things, built from boulders rather than shaped stone, and easy to mistake for the random scatter of rocks that characterises so much of the Irish upland landscape. That they are deliberate constructions, laid out with some intention and used for some purpose, is the quiet puzzle they present.

The structures vary considerably in scale, with internal diameters ranging from 1.3 metres to 3.9 metres, which suggests they were not all put to the same use. Some may have sheltered people, others animals or fodder. The presence of enclosures alongside the huts, and the remains of old field walls visible in the immediate vicinity, points toward farming activity rather than permanent settlement. This kind of upland site is broadly associated with seasonal grazing practice, where people and livestock moved to higher ground during summer months, a pattern once common across Ireland and much of Atlantic Europe. The Iveragh Peninsula, which takes in the Iveragh mountains and the Ring of Kerry, contains a remarkable concentration of such remains, catalogued in A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan's archaeological survey of South Kerry, published by Cork University Press in 1996.