The pits, which represent the remains of a domestic settlement, push human activity here back to somewhere between 2908 and 2638 BC, comfortably within the Neolithic period, that long stretch of later prehistory when farming communities were establishing themselves across Ireland and beginning to leave more legible traces in the soil.

The site came to light not through a dedicated archaeological campaign but through infrastructure works. Geophysical survey and test excavation were carried out in advance of the Portrane, Donabate and Lusk Waste Water Treatment scheme, under licences 08R029 and 10E0121 respectively. Geophysical survey involves scanning the ground using instruments that detect buried features without breaking the surface, and it flagged this area as worth investigating before any groundwork proceeded. Excavation confirmed a settlement character, with the pits interpreted as domestic in nature, the kind of feature associated with everyday life rather than ritual or burial. Radiocarbon dating, which uses the decay of carbon isotopes in organic material to establish age, placed at least one of the pits firmly in the Neolithic. The findings were published by McQuade in 2011. The site also sits just twenty metres north of a separately recorded prehistoric habitation site, suggesting this part of the Fingal coastline saw sustained use across some portion of prehistory rather than a single fleeting occupation.

The site lies within Portraine Demesne in north County Dublin, a broad area that today is perhaps better known for Saint Ita's Hospital and its walled grounds than for any prehistoric associations. There is no formal public access to the excavated location itself, and little to see above ground in any case; the pits, once investigated, would have been backfilled as a matter of standard practice. What lingers is the knowledge that the ordinary business of Neolithic life, cooking, storage, refuse disposal, the mundane rhythm of settlement, was once carried out here, within sight of the Irish Sea. For anyone interested in the deeper layers of the Fingal landscape, the relevant recorded monument references are held with the National Monuments Service.