Cist

The National Monuments Service's description

Harristown passage tomb (WA027-007----) was excavated in 1939 by J. Hawkes (1941). The covering cairn (diam. c. 15.25m) had spilled outside the orthostats, and it may have had an outer kerb of dispersed orthostats. The cairn contained secondary burials, all cremations, one with a vase food vessel, three with cordoned urns, one of which had a pygmy cup, and an unclassifiable urn. The cremated remains of at least four others were found in two deposits, and the associated finds of the secondary burials comprise a razor, a faience bead and perforated bone pins. The only cist (Hawkes 1941, 140-1, No. III) was outside the entrance to the passage tomb, and contained a bowl food vessel lying on its side on a slab and partly proteced by another slab. The food vessel contained the remains of a middle-aged adult, possibly male. (Waddell 1990, 145, 3; Ó Ríordáin and Waddell, 1993, 139)

Hawkes, J. (1941) Excavation of a megalithic tomb at Harristown, Co. Waterford. JRSAI, vol. 71, 130-47.
O'Ríordáin, B. and Waddell, J. (1993) The funerary bowls and vases of the Irish Bronze Age. Galway University Press.
Waddell, J. (1990) The Bronze Age burials of Ireland. Galway University Press.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 31 May 2011