Cist in Ballyveelish North

Excavated between April and May 1982 (Doody 1987, 10-21; Doody 1988, 176-80). Small slab-lined polygonal cist (dims. 0.7m N-S; 0.52m E-W; D 0.4m) which contained cremated remains within an inverted encrusted urn (Doody 1988, 176). The cist was within a ditch barrow (TS077-046004-) and appeared to be covered by a timber structure (TS077-046010-) interpreted as being a mortuary house (ibid.). The cist, which contained a large amount of charcoal and burnt soil, the urn and cremated remains mentioned above, two pygmy cups and a plano-convex flint knife, was covered by capstones, one of which was formerly a saddle quern (ibid. 176-7). The bone fragments represent the remains of at least five individuals, two adults and three children and there was some evidence to suggest that some of the bones were those of a large dog or wolf (ibid. 178). A sample of wood charcoal from the encrusted urn gave a date of 1630 +/- 50 BC (Doody 1988, 179). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011

Bronze Age cist burial; dates to the period of c. 2000–800 BCE. Its significance lies in the presence of cremated remains and an encrusted urn, typical of funerary practices in Atlantic Europe during the early to middle Bronze Age.