Carrowmore is not a single monument but a whole complex of them, and the passage tomb that forms part of this grouping belongs to a tradition of prehistoric construction that predates many of the more famous monuments of the ancient world. A passage tomb, in simple terms, is a burial structure in which a stone-lined corridor leads to a central chamber, the whole typically covered by a mound of earth or cairn of stones. What makes Carrowmore unusual is the sheer density of monuments gathered in one place, and the evidence, accumulated over decades of excavation and dating, that some of them are extraordinarily ancient.

The principal scholarly work on this monument comes from Seán Ó Nualláin's survey of the megalithic tombs of County Sligo, published in 1989 as the fifth volume of a wider national survey. That volume brought together fieldwork, measurements, and comparative analysis of the monuments in the area, providing a systematic record of what survives at Carrowmore and how the individual tombs relate to one another. The site is designated a National Monument in State care, a status that reflects both its archaeological significance and the legal protections afforded to it under Irish heritage legislation.

Carrowmore is open to visitors during the summer season, managed by the Office of Public Works, and a visitor centre on site provides context for the wider complex. The monuments are spread across a broad area, and walking between them gives a sense of how the landscape itself was shaped, in part, by the people who built here. The central monument, a large cairn sometimes called Listoghil, is the most visually prominent, but the smaller satellite tombs scattered around it, some reduced to little more than a circle of boulders around a central dolmen, are worth seeking out individually.