Wedge tombs, so called because their gallery narrows and lowers from front to back in a distinctive wedge profile, belong broadly to the late Neolithic and earlier Bronze Age, a period stretching roughly from 2500 to 2000 BC. They are found in greatest numbers across the west of Ireland, and Clare alone contains dozens of examples, making the county something of a focal point for anyone trying to understand how these monuments were distributed across the prehistoric landscape.

The Knockshanvo tomb was recorded and described by Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin as part of their systematic survey of megalithic tombs in County Clare, published in 1961 as the first volume of what became a landmark multi-volume project covering the whole island. De Valera in particular spent much of his career methodically cataloguing these monuments at a time when many were poorly understood or confused with other tomb types. Their work on Clare established a framework still consulted by archaeologists today, and Knockshanvo was among the sites they documented in the field.