That peculiar origin is central to everything known about this site, and about the wider cluster of ancient monuments surrounding it.

In 1982, the Archaeology Department of University College Cork was commissioned to carry out a Route Selection Study for Bórd Gáis Éireann, working alongside ARUP Pipeline Engineering. The resulting report, published by Woodman in 1983, identified what has since become known as the Elton barrow cemetery, a grouping of up to 37 possible barrows, the circular or oval earthen mounds typically associated with Bronze Age burial practice, concentrated within an area measuring roughly 230 metres north to south and 300 metres east to west. A barrow of the ditch variety is defined by a surrounding ditch rather than a raised bank, and the form can be difficult to read at ground level even when conditions are favourable. This particular example, recorded as Site No. 30 by the Discovery Programme, was further examined using aerial photography from a 1986 Bruff survey and images taken during gas pipeline aerial reconnaissance. It sits approximately 475 metres northeast of the Morningstar River, which itself marks the townland boundary between Elton and Ballinvana. By the time Digital Globe ortho-imagery was captured between 2011 and 2013, no surface remains were visible at all.

The site lies in wet pasture, which in practical terms means ground conditions can be difficult underfoot, particularly in the wetter months. There is nothing to see at the surface now, and any visit would be one of informed imagination rather than visible remains. The value of coming here, if one does, lies in understanding the landscape context; standing in a field that once held dozens of monuments across a compact area, most of them now known only through the incidental record of infrastructure planning. Access would require permission from the landowner, and the location is most usefully approached with reference to the published archaeological record rather than any waymarked trail.