Cist



In archeology, a cist (also kist ; from κίστη, Middle Welsh Kist or Germanic Kiste) 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 kista in Swedish and kiste in Danish and Norwegian, where it is the word for a funerary coffin. In English the term is related to cistern and to chest.

Regional examples

 * Sri Lanka
 * Bellanbedipalassa
 * Pothana
 * Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Stones
 * Udaranchamadama
 * England
 * Bellever Forest, Dartmoor
 * Hepburn woods, Northumberland


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


 * Latvia
 * Batariņi


 * Guatemala
 * Mundo Perdido, Tikal, Petén Department


 * Palestine
 * Tel Kabri (Area A), Upper Galilee


 * Scotland
 * Balblair cist, Beauly, Inverness
 * Dunan Aula, Craignish, Argyll and Bute
 * Holm Mains Farm, Inverness
 * Nether Mill, Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire