Cist

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on top of a knoll in low lying pasture, near the N shore of Lough Ennell. A cist burial uncovered immediately beside a possible barrow (WM025-076001-) which was excavated the National Museum of Ireland in 1976. In this year a cist burial was exposed when backfilling a small disused gravel pit at the base of a glacial hillock. The cist was situated just below the break of the hillock on SE facing slope. Eamonn Kelly of the National Museum of Ireland carried out an investigation of the site and recorded the following details; 'The capstone (dims. 0.91m x 0.76m x 0.08m) was fully removed and the cist was seen to contain a small pottery vessel and a pile of cremated bones. Excavation relocated the grave (max. L 0.47m x Max. L 0.41m x D 0.5m) which had not been further damaged in the back-filling operation. It was trapezoidal in shape and was made up of 4 slabs set into a sub-rectangular pit (dims. 0.95m x 0.8m x D 0.5m). The cist contained a small pottery vessel and a deposit of cremated bones, later analysed to be skull fragments, mandible and maxilla, phalanges and metacarpal bones from one individual. Four unworked flint flakes were found in the bulldozed soil near the cist. The cist being reported on was situated outside this earthwork' (Kelly 1982-3, 86-9).

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

Date of upload: 11 September 2019

References

Kelly, E.P. 1982-3 A cist burial at Keoltown. Co. Westmeath. Ríocht na Mídhe VII, 2, 86-89.