A souterrain is an underground stone-lined passage or chamber, typically built during the early medieval period in Ireland, and used variously for storage, refuge, or as a means of concealed movement between points within or near a defended settlement. What makes this particular site worth pausing over is precisely its ambiguity: nothing has been confirmed, nothing excavated. The collapsed ground is a clue rather than a conclusion.

The ringfort in which this possible souterrain sits is a separate, recorded monument in its own right. Ringforts, the most numerous class of archaeological site in Ireland, were enclosed farmsteads of the early medieval period, their circular banks and ditches defining a family's living space and livestock enclosure. The association between ringforts and souterrains is well established across the country, with underground passages frequently discovered beneath or immediately adjacent to the enclosing bank. At Slieveowen, the ground disturbance to the north of the fort's centre fits a pattern that archaeologists have encountered many times elsewhere, though whether the cause here is a collapsed passage roof, a filled chamber, or something else entirely remains an open question.