Cist

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a low W-E spur. A cist was discovered in building a house during 2006 and excavated (E001190) by the National Museum of Ireland. The cist (dims. c. 0.9m x 0.7m; D 0.4m) had a paved floor and was covered by a single lintel (dims. c. 1.52m x 1.2m; T 0.1m). The cist had been bisected by a building trench and only 5 side-slabs remained in place, but these leaned in from the bottom. The cist had been placed in a pit (dims. 2.1m x 1.3m; D 0,.7m) that was partly dug into the shale bedrock.
The cremation deposit had been largely removed by the building work, but must have filled the cist as the cremated remains of 17 individuals were recorded from what remained. These included 12 adults, at least one adolescent, two juveniles and at least two infants. A sample of bone produced a C14 date of 2134-1947 Cal. BC. No pottery was recorded, but a tiny clay bead and a perforated shale piece (dims. c. 5cm x c. 5m) were recovered. (Sikora and Reilly 2011)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 16 August, 2012

References

Sikora, M. and Reilly, F. 2011 3.97 Tomfarney, Co. Wexford, E1190. In M. Cahill and M. Sikora, Breaking ground, finding graves - reports on the excavations of burials by the National Museum of Ireland, 1927-2006. Vol. 1, 598-646. Dublin. Wordwell.