What is recorded here

Under the western sky, four stone chambers hold the breath of the dead. A couple lies together in the largest room, a child joins them later, and smaller boxes keep the remains of others beside the kerb. The cairn rose above an older turf layer where people once lived, burned charcoal, and dropped flints into shallow pits. To walk its edge is to touch the moment when a temporary camp became a permanent monument of memory.

In pasture, in SW corner of field; low circular mound (diam. c. 13.7m) defined by stone kerb; capstone of cist visible in centre of mound. Excavated by O'Kelly (1952, 121-158) who described four rectangular cists, covered by cairn enclosed by 'megalithic' kerbstones laid on edge; this multiple-cist cairn was built on a grey 'old turf' layer. Gap in kerb to N (Wth 13ft; sockets for two missing stones at W end of gap suggest original Wth c. 5ft.); W side defined by largest kerbstone (9ft x 3ft 9in x 1ft 3in), E side by radially set stone. Cairn material (max. H 4ft 6in) contained fragments of Food Vessel pottery with Beaker-type ornament, broken saddle-querns and rubbers, axe hammer, bone point and antler pendant. Central cist (4ft 6in x 4ft 3in; H 2ft; long axis NW-SE), 'of megalithic character' (ibid., 157), has three double-slabbed sidewalls; fourth sidewall has single thick slab; outer slabs do not support capstone (8ft 6in x 6ft; Th 2ft); floor paved in 'crazy-paving' fashion. Primary inhumation of male and female was disturbed by insertion of cremation of young person into cist. Cist no. 2 (3ft x 1ft; H 1ft 6in; capstone 4ft x 3ft) parallel to above, just inside kerb to SW, contained fragmentary adult inhumation. Cist no. 3 (1ft 8in x 1ft 3in; H 6in; long axis E-W), just inside kerb to NW, floored by slab; single boulder outside E and W ends; no trace of burial (ibid., 126). Cist no. 4 (1ft 9in x 3ft; H 1ft 10in; long axis E-W) contained fragmentary inhumations of male, female and child. Immediately beneath the grey 'old turf' layer, in the vicinity of Cist no. 2, were found several shallow pits, some charcoal spreads, burnt areas and fragments of Neolithic pottery (but see below), a considerable number of flints, two pieces of quartz crystal, and pieces of a human skull (ibid., 140-1). O'Kelly also discovered fosse outside kerb 'which ran continuously around ... but was not concentric with it' (ibid., 132); he considered this ring barrow (CO027-159---) earlier than cairn. Two recent radiocarbon dates, one from primary inhumation in central cist (2260-2140 cal. BC) and one from charcoal found immediately beneath grey 'old turf' layer (2560-2390 cal. BC)' have prompted reinterpretation of site (Brindley et al., 1987/8); pottery thought Neolithic by O'Kelly is now described as both Beaker Pottery and pottery belonging to a contemporary 'non-Beaker tradition' (ibid., 13). This suggests a primary short-term settlement, the main evidence for which included Beaker Pottery, followed by multiple-cist cairn in earliest Bronze Age, and finally enclosing of cairn by fosse (CO027-159---) and secondary burials (CO027-160--- & CO027-161---) (ibid.). Unclassified megalithic tombs c. 600m to W (CO027-068---) and c. 300m to E (CO027-076---). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Cairn of Cists, Moneen is a Neolithic funerary monument, dating to the Early to Middle Neolithic period (c. 4000–3000 BCE). It is significant as an example of a multi-cist burial structure, reflecting early communal burial practices and the development of megalithic architecture in Ireland.

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