It is one of the larger shell middens, essentially a prehistoric and early medieval refuse heap, recorded on the Dingle Peninsula, and it runs about a metre deep in places, built up from layer upon layer of discarded shells, charred material, and animal bone.

A radiocarbon date taken from charcoal at the site places activity here at around 1185 AD, give or take seventy years, which puts it in the early medieval period. The picture that emerges from the deposits is domestic and mundane in the best possible sense. The people who gathered at this shore were eating limpets, whelks, and periwinkles from the surrounding rocks, as well as pig and cattle. Among the bones also identified, or tentatively so, are those of wolf, an animal that was still present in Ireland at this period, though whether it was hunted, kept, or simply scavenged the same shore is not recorded. A hone stone, used for sharpening blades, was also recovered, suggesting a working settlement nearby rather than a temporary camp.