It would appear that these Mesolithic peoples visited the Mount Sandel area fairly frequently and built a number of huts in roughly the one place. These were about 6m across, presumably made with fairly large saplings, some of which would have been placed in holes 50cm deep. They were roughly circular, would have been covered by hides, reeds and possibly earth and had a little hearth up to 1m across, usually set slightly forward towards the entrance. Outside the huts were large pits, possibly for storage, and areas where stone tools were manufactured as well as traces of other activities. While it was something of a surprise to discover the robustness and substantial size of these dwellings, other discoveries were much more important.

To appreciate the significance of these discoveries, we should first note that Ireland may have been an island since before the beginning of the Post-glacial. Therefore, many of the plants and animals living in Europe at that time did not find their way to Ireland. Animals such as wild cattle and fallow deer never lived there and many of the fish in Irish rivers are recent introductions, therefore one of the major problems of the island is to establish what was there before man arrived, i.e. what could he have hunted and caught?

Fortunately, at Mount Sandel, a considerable quantity of the food was thrown into fires and was burnt. By being turned into inorganic debris, it has survived. From these burnt fragments, we know that these people hunted wild boar, trapped hare and kept dogs as well as relying extensively on fishing, in particular fishing for salmon and eels. So far, however, no early site in Ireland has produced evidence that they hunted red deer. Their diet could, of course, have been supplemented by plant foods such as apples or hazel nuts, whose burnt remains also turned up on the site.

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From the Appletree Press title: The People of Ireland (currently out of print).
Also see A Little History of Ireland.