In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur across Europe and in the Middle East. A cist may have formerly been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a cairn 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, as well as in Dutch (), where it is the word for a funerary coffin. In English the term is related to cistern and to chest.

Regional examples

1. England

2. Teffont Evias, England

3. Estonia

4. Jõelähtme (Rebala) stone-cist graves, Harju County

5. Guatemala

6. Mundo Perdido, Tikal, Petén Department

7. Ireland

8. Knockmaree Dolmen, Phoenix Park, Dublin

9. Israel

10. Tel Kabri (Area A), Upper Galilee

11. Latvia

12. Batariņi

13. Scotland

14. Balblair cist, Beauly, Inverness

15. Dunan Aula, Craignish, Argyll and Bute

16. Holm Mains Farm, Inverness

17. Nether Mill, Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire

18. Sri Lanka

19. Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Stones

20. Udaranchamadama

See also

• Kistvaen

• Dartmoor kistvaens

• Stone box grave

References

External links

• Pretanic World - Chart of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Celtic Stone Structures