archeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolo ...

, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or

ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years th ...

used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper

shaft tomb A shaft tomb or shaft grave is a type of deep rectangular burial structure, similar in shape to the much shallower cist grave, containing a floor of pebbles, walls of rubble masonry, and a roof constructed of wooden planks. Practice The pract ...

. Examples occur across Europe and in the Middle East. A cist may have formerly been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

or a long barrow. Several cists are sometimes found close together within the same cairn or barrow. Often ornaments have been found within an excavated cist, indicating the wealth or prominence of the interred individual. This old word is preserved in the Nordic languages as in Swedish and in Danish and Norwegian, where it is the word for a

funerary A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

coffin. In English the term is related to ''cistern'' and to ''chest''.

Regional examples

;England *

Teffont Evias Teffont Evias is a small village and former Civil parishes in England, civil parish, now in the parish of Teffont, on the River Nadder, Nadder valley in the south of Wiltshire, England. Edric Holmes described the village as "most delightfully si ...

, England ;Estonia * Jõelähtme (Rebala) stone-cist graves, Harju County ;Guatemala *

Mundo Perdido, Tikal The Mundo Perdido (Spanish for "Lost World") is the largest ceremonial complex dating from the Preclassic period at the ancient Maya city of Tikal, in the Petén Department of northern Guatemala.Martin and Grube 2000, p.28. The complex was orga ...

, Petén Department ;Ireland *

Knockmaree Dolmen Knockmaree Dolmen, or Knockmaree Cist, is a prehistoric site of the Neolithic period, in Phoenix Park just north of Chapelizod, near Dublin, Ireland. Other forms of the name are ''Knockmary'' or ''Knockmaroon Dolmen'', or ''Cnoc-Maraidhe''. Des ...

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

;Israel *

Tel Kabri Tel Kabri (), or Tell al-Qahweh (), is an archaeological Tell (archaeology), tell (mound created by accumulation of remains) containing one of the largest Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age (2,100–1,550 Common Era, BCE) Canaanite palaces in Israel ...

(Area A), Upper Galilee ;Latvia * Batariņi ;Scotland * Balblair cist,

Beauly Beauly ( ; ; ) is a village in Scotland's Highland (council area), Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North Line, Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the County of Inverness. ...

, Inverness *

Dunan Aula Dunan Aula, also known in Scottish Gaelic as Dùnan Amhlaidh, is the site of an exposed cist, located in the parish of Craignish, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, at . The place-name means "Olaf's mound"; it is said to commemorate a Viking prince so ...

, Craignish, Argyll and Bute *

Holm Holm may refer to: Places * Holm (island), the name of several islands * Holm, Nordfriesland, Germany * Holm, Pinneberg, Germany * Holm (Flensburg), Flensburg, Germany * Holm, Nordland, a village in Bindal Municipality in Nordland county ...

Mains Farm, Inverness *

Nether Mill Nether Mill or the Nethermiln of Kilbirnie was originally the Barony of Kilbirnie corn mill and later became a meal mill as well, located in the Parish of Kilbirnie, near Kilbirnie Loch, North Ayrshire, south-west Scotland. The present ruins dat ...

, Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire ;Sri Lanka * Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Stones * Udaranchamadama

References

External links

Pretanic World - Chart of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Celtic Stone Structures
{{Prehistoric technology, state=expanded Burial monuments and structures Archaeology of death

Regional examples

See also

References

External links