Cist

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, located near the top of a low rounded hill. The N slope of the hill drops to an area of lowlying damp ground. Lough Carrowcon is located 540m to NE.
This is the larger of two close-set cists which were excavated in 1933 by the Second Harvard Archaeological Expedition (Movius 1934; 72-85). The smaller cist (MA100-056001-) was located 0.05m to N, and was partly overlapped by the capstone of this cist.
This cist (int. dims. 1.03m E-W; 0.41m N−S at W end, 0.55m at E end; D 0.5m) was roughly trapezoidal in shape, the long axis oriented E-W. The four walls were each constructed of a single upright limestone slab, and it was roofed with a massive limestone capstone (L 1.73m E-W; Wth 1.2m; T 0.21m), which lay 0.15m below ground surface. Smaller stones were used as packing stones to hold the side stones in place. An inhumed burial and a later insertion of cremated bones rested on the gravel floor, along with two poorly preserved sherds from two different pottery vessels. The skull of the inhumed burial was at the SW corner of the cist, however the rest of the skeleton was 'in complete confusion', and appeared to have been disturbed when the cremated remains were added to the cist. Analysis of the inhumed bones suggested that they were from an adult female, aged 50-55 years at death. The cremated bones were concentrated at the E side of the cist but were also scattered throughout the cist; they represented the remains of two adult individuals. A flat slab (L 0.42m; Wth 0.41m; T 0.15m) was uncovered c. 0.3m S of the cist, at a depth of 0.45m below ground level. A small deposit of very fragmentary cremated bones was found on and beneath the slab; it was interpreted as being part of the cremation from the cist, rather than a separate burial. (Movius 1934; 72-85).

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 12 March 2021

References

Movius, H. L. 1934 Bronze Age burials from Carrownacon, near Ballyglass, Co. Mayo. JRSAI 64, 72-85.