A ring-ditch, in archaeological terms, is a circular or near-circular ditch cut into the ground, most commonly associated with prehistoric funerary or ceremonial activity, sometimes the eroded remnant of a burial mound whose earthen core has long since flattened away. At Ballynaveen, there is nothing to see at ground level. The feature exists now only as a crop or soil mark, its outline preserved in the differential growth of grass and the faint chemistry of disturbed earth.

The site was identified not by excavation or field survey but through aerial photography, specifically from Ordnance Survey photographs catalogued as 2402/3. Those images revealed not one ring-ditch but three, gathered in close proximity across gently undulating pasture with moderate to good views across the surrounding landscape. Two of the three, recorded under the site references TS065-011001 and TS065-011002, appeared to be conjoined, their circuits touching or overlapping in a way that suggests either sequential construction or a deliberate spatial relationship between whatever events or burials they once marked. A third lies approximately fifty metres to the north. The ground conditions have complicated matters further: the area appears to have had topsoil and small rubble spread across it within the decade or so before the site was recorded, activity that will have deepened the burial of any surviving archaeological deposits and further reduced the chances of anything registering on the surface.