They are the apparent remains of a midden, the term archaeologists use for a deposit of domestic waste, typically shells, bones, and discarded food remains, left behind by early coastal communities. Such deposits are among the most direct evidence we have of how people ate and lived along Ireland's shoreline, sometimes thousands of years ago. This one, however, remains effectively out of reach.

The site at An Ghlaise Bheag was recorded in J. Cuppage's 1986 archaeological survey of the Corca Dhuibhne region, the Dingle Peninsula, a survey that documented the extraordinary concentration of prehistoric and early medieval remains in this corner of Kerry. The shells were noted as sitting high in the cliff-face on the eastern side of Smerwick Harbour, but access was described as impossible and the site could not be examined closely. That limitation is itself telling. Coastal erosion, sea-level change over millennia, and the shifting of cliff faces can all reposition what were once ground-level refuse heaps, lifting them into geological strata that are now exposed but unreachable. What was once a mundane heap of oyster or limpet shells discarded after a meal has ended up preserved, somewhat ironically, by the same processes that make it impossible to study.