Monuments

Cists are most commonly associated with the Bronze Age. They are made with large flat slabs of stone laid on their edges, usually covered by a horizontal slab or “capstone” but sometimes covered by timber. Cists are usually dug and set into the ground but they may also be buried beneath an earthen mound or a cairn. There are also rare examples of free-standing surface cists. In the medieval period there was a similar monument called a ‘long-cist’ where bodies were laid out in coffin shaped stone cists.

Cists are small in size, built for a single inhumation or cremation. Bodies were placed with bent legs, sometimes in the foetal position with the knees drawn up to the chin (crouched inhumation). Cremations were typically housed in urns that were placed into the cist.