It barely rises above the surrounding pasture, reaching just over a metre in height, and for most of its existence it went unrecognised for what it was.

The mound came to light in 1990, not through planned archaeological investigation but through road construction works, when machinery cut directly through it and exposed two cist graves beneath. A cist is a small stone-lined burial box, typically associated with prehistoric interment, and the rescue excavation carried out by the National Museum that same year confirmed the site's significance. A second, shorter excavation followed in 1991, prompted by upright stones visible on the southern side of the mound. That work revealed a row of five slabs set on edge in an east-to-west line, which may have formed part of a kerb or revetment, a structural facing intended to define and retain the mound's edge. Immediately outside this stone setting, excavators found a charcoal-rich layer associated with burnt stone, suggesting some form of activity, possibly ritual, in that zone. A number of possible chert implements, chert being a flint-like stone used for prehistoric tools, were also recovered from the site.