Cist

The National Monuments Service's description

The precise location of two cists found inside a burial mound that was recorded in 1857 has not been identified. It was situated in gently undulating pasture, in a place known as Carawn and was examined in 1857 when it was described as following. Inside an earthen mound or barrow (WM025-059001-) are the remains of a double chambered stone-lined cist grave. A portion of the mound and a large number of small stones were removed to expose two large flagstones (each flagstone: L 1.07m; Wth 0.76m; T 0.1m) which were laid horizontally (Wilde 1857-1861, 89-90). The cist comprised of two chambers, one to east and one to west, divided by an upright flagstone. Each chamber contained an inhumation. The eastern chamber contained the cranium and long arm bones of a middle aged man and a large boar’s tusk. The cranium was of a globular form with a high frontal development and a prominent jaw bone. The western chamber contained the cranium and long arm and leg bones of a younger individual who was probably about 5 feet 10 inches tall (Wilde 1857-1861, 91). It had a long-head and low-forehead with a lighter and narrower jawbone. Both crania showed no sign of tooth decay. A cinerary urn (H 0.11m; Wth at top 0.14m) had been placed between the leg bones in the western chamber. The urn was a reddish coloured unglazed pottery which was roughly pyramidal-shaped and its ornamentation was of ‘the very rudest description, consisting of a few scratches and indentations’ (ibid). No bone fragments were found within the urn and it contained a fine clay, similar to the fill of the cist which was interpreted as material which had filtered in from the surrounding mound. The urn was a probable food vessel (Waddell 1970, 133). The remains of a third skeleton were found outside the W chamber of the cist and consisted of some human bone fragments and identifiable portions of the upper and lower jaw of a juvenile believed to be no more than twelve years old.

Compiled by Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien.

Date of upload: 23 September 2019

References

Waddell, J. 1970 Irish Bronze Age cists, a survey. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 100, 91-139.

Wilde, W.R. 1857-61 On Human Remains Found at Barrettstown, County Westmeath. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 7, 88-91.