Cist

The National Monuments Service's description

At the approximate centre of a cairn (CL006-044----). Excavation carried out to facilitate repairs following the disturbance of the cairn revealed this central cist (Eogan 2002). The cist had been disturbed and comprised only two limestone slabs, a southern sidestone (H c. 0.8m; T c. 0.3m) and a capstone (L c. 0.95m; T c. 0.1m) (Eogan 2002, Fig 8). It contained two fills; a basal fill indistinguishable from the cairn and an upper black peaty silt. The partial remains of an adult inhumation, a child’s scapula and a cremation deposit containing at least one adult were recovered from the upper fill. A sample of the inhumed bone from the central cist returned a Chalcolithic date (2460–2140 cal BC). There were no finds within the cist, however, a perforated dog tooth, a glass bead, a possible stone pin sharpener, a chert scraper, a flint blade and several sherds of pottery were found elsewhere in the cairn (Eogan 2002, 127). A secondary inhumed burial was also found within the cairn.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin

Date of upload: 27 July 2021

References

Eogan, J. 1998 Coolnatullagh, prehistoric cairn and field system. In I. Bennett (ed. ) Excavations 1997: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 5-6. Bray, Wordwell.

Eogan, J. 2002 Excavations at a cairn in Coolnatullagh townland, Co. Clare. North Munster Antiquarian Journal 42, 113-50.