Cist

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on top of a ridge in pastureland. There are no surface remains visible of the excavated cist marked on the OS 6-inch map. The excavated cist was described by Waddell (1970, 133) as a ‘short rectangular; well built with large capstone 130 x 118cm internally, long axis N-S; contained a disturbed, possibly disarticulated, skeletal burial’. Recorded by the National Museum of Ireland in 1969 and described as ‘a small cist. There were no associated grave goods. The cist was located on the highest point of a low, rounded hillock. It was well constructed, rectangular in shape and its longer axis ran almost N-S. Each side was formed by a single slab of local limestone and the grave was covered by a single stone, with an estimated weight of 8 cwt. A flat slab was placed on top of each of the eastern and southern stones of the grave in order to bring the capstone level. These two slabs oversailed inwards the edge of the orthostats. Undisturbed gravel formed the floor of the cist. The capstone measured 1.30 m by 1.18 m by 20 cm thick. The grave, internally, measured 80 cm by 65 cm. It was 60 cm deep below the capstone, which itself lay 20 cm below the surface. The upper portion of the cist was empty but the last 26 cm was filled with fine earth and small stones, through which the human bones were mixed. The burial appeared to have been considerably disturbed at some stage though the possibility that the deposit represented a disarticulated skeleton should not be excluded. Prof. Erskine reports: - "Young adult female (18-20 years) of small stature, probably less than 150 cm in height. Notably small sternum, shallow left half of mandible with conspicuously wide angle and unworn molars. Evidence of incomplete fusion of sacral elements. No foot bones present. Few fragments of skull".’ (Lucas 1972, 193) According to the National Museum of Ireland 'the site was located 5m north-west of a ringfort (WM032-081----). In the absence of any associated artefacts, it is assumed to be early Bronze Age on the basis of its form' (Cahill and Sikora 2011, vol. 1, 501-2).

Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 11 March 2013

References

Cahill, M. and Sikora, M. (eds) 2011 Breaking ground, finding graves - reports on the excavations of burials by the National Museum of Ireland, 1927-2006, 2 vols. Dublin. Wordwell Ltd. in association with the National Museum of Ireland.

Lucas, A.T. 1972 National Museum of Ireland: archaeological acquisitions in the year 1969. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 102, 181-223.

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