Marked simply as "Cave" on the second edition Ordnance Survey map, the feature is in fact a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber typically constructed during the early medieval period in Ireland, often used for storage, refuge, or both. The cartographic label is a telling reminder of how such structures were interpreted, or misinterpreted, by earlier surveyors who encountered them without the benefit of archaeological context.

According to the archaeological survey of the Iveragh Peninsula compiled by A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan and published by Cork University Press in 1996, the souterrain sits on a gentle rise overlooking the harbour. That position would be consistent with early medieval settlement patterns, where souterrains were frequently associated with ringforts or farmsteads occupying slightly elevated ground near water. Whatever once marked the site above ground has long since disappeared. Dense vegetation and trees have taken over the location entirely, and no physical traces of the souterrain remain visible at the surface.

This is, in a quiet way, an archaeology of absence. The site exists in the record, assigned a formal identifier and a place in a published survey, yet on the ground there is simply a wooded rise beside a harbour, giving nothing away. Visitors searching for any visible remains would find none, which is itself a kind of historical fact worth sitting with.