Cist in Poulawack

Situated within Poulawack cairn (CL009-032002-), cut into the N side of the inner revetment. Excavated by the Third Harvard Archaeological Expedition in Ireland, under Hugh O’Neill Hencken (Hencken and Movius 1935), who subsequently restored the cairn. ‘Grave 4’ in Hencken’s schema, this ‘especially carefully and regularly constructed’ (ibid., 202) subrectangular cist (int. dims. 0.55m NE–SW; 0.37–0.45m NW–SE; H 0.31m) comprised a vertical limestone slab to form each side, and a single floor stone. The capstone was missing, and the sparse disturbed contents, found under the floor stone, included unburnt bones of an adult and child. A sample of these remains was radiocarbon-dated to the late third millennium BC (Brindley and Lanting 1992, 16). During this second broad phase of mortuary activity at Poulawack cairn, cists ('Grave 5’ and ‘Grave 6’, CL009-032016- and CL009-032017-) were also constructed in the S and E parts of the mound respectively (Brindley and Lanting 1992, 16; Hencken and Movius 1935). The following image has been uploaded: CL009-032015-_01.jpg Cist plan and section (from Hencken and Movius 1935, Fig. 5) Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 18 January 2022

A Neolithic cist tomb, dating to the Early to Middle Neolithic period (c. 4000–3000 BCE), associated with a larger cairn; significant as part of a broader funerary and ritual landscape in the Boyne Valley region.