Cist in Dunbell Big

Between September 1990 and January 1991 remote sensing and trial trenching was carried out at a ringfort (KK024-010001-) in Dunbell Big (Cassidy 1990, 38-9; Cassidy 1991, 18-20). A pit-burial (KK024-010005-) with crushed food vessel was uncovered 0.4m to the N of the cist burial, under the foundations of an early medieval house (KK024-010006-) (ibid.). The cist burial is described by Cassidy (1991, 20) as being, ‘contained in a well-built cist sealed with two capstones. The cist fill was mainly a reddish loam and lying at its base was an intact Food Vessel containing and surrounded by burnt bone. This Food Vessel may belong to a slightly more recent era than the crushed one and had relatively simple incised decoration’, suggesting a date range of 2000-1500 BC. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 9 November 2021

A cist burial, likely dating to the Early Christian period, associated with a ringfort; its significance lies in the rare preservation of burial practices in a rural settlement context.