# Cist > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cist > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cist.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cist > Source revision: 1320943217 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Small stone-built coffin-like box, ossua or dolmen This article is about the type of grave. For the medical phenomenon, see [Cyst](/source/Cyst). For other uses, see [Cist (disambiguation)](/source/Cist_(disambiguation)). [Kistvaen](/source/Kistvaen) on the southern edge of [Dartmoor](/source/Dartmoor) in [Drizzlecombe](/source/Drizzlecombe) (England) showing the capstone and the inner cist structure Cist Look up ***[cist](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cist)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. In [archeology](/source/Archeology), a **cist** ([/ˈkɪst/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English); also **kist** [/ˈkɪst/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English);[1][2] ultimately from [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek_language): κίστη; cognate to English: chest) or **cist grave** is a small stone-built coffin-like box or [ossuary](/source/Ossuary) used to hold the [bodies of the dead](/source/Dead_body). In some ways, it is similar to the deeper [shaft tomb](/source/Shaft_tomb). Examples occur across Europe and in the Middle East.[3][4][5][6] A cist may have formerly been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a [cairn](/source/Cairn) or a long [barrow](/source/Tumulus). Several cists are sometimes found close together within the same cairn or barrow. Often ornaments have been found within an excavated cist, indicating the wealth or prominence of the interred individual. This old word is preserved in the Nordic languages as *kista* in Swedish and *kiste* in Danish and Norwegian, as well as in Dutch (*kist*), where it is the word for a [funerary](/source/Funerary) coffin.[7][8][9] In English the term is related to *cistern*[10] and to *chest*. ## Regional examples Stone cist graves from a Bronze Age site in Northern Estonia Drone video of stone cist graves in Jõelähtme, Estonia **England** - [Teffont Evias](/source/Teffont_Evias), England[11][12] **Estonia** - [Jõelähtme (Rebala) stone-cist graves](/source/Rebala_Heritage_Reserve), Harju County **Guatemala** - [Mundo Perdido, Tikal](/source/Mundo_Perdido%2C_Tikal), Petén Department **Ireland** - [Knockmaree Dolmen](/source/Knockmaree_Dolmen), [Phoenix Park](/source/Phoenix_Park), [Dublin](/source/Dublin) **Israel** - [Tel Kabri](/source/Tel_Kabri#Areas) (Area A), Upper Galilee **Latvia** - [Batariņi](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Batari%C5%86i&action=edit&redlink=1)[13] **Scotland** - Balblair cist, [Beauly](/source/Beauly), Inverness[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] - [Dunan Aula](/source/Dunan_Aula), Craignish, Argyll and Bute - [Holm](/source/Holm%2C_Inverness) Mains Farm, Inverness - [Nether Mill](/source/Nether_Mill), Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire **Sri Lanka** - [Ibbankatuwa Megalithic](/source/Ibbankatuwa_Megalithic_Tombs) Stones - [Udaranchamadama](/source/Haldummulla) ## See also - [Kistvaen](/source/Kistvaen) - [Dartmoor kistvaens](/source/Dartmoor_kistvaens) - [Stone box grave](/source/Stone_box_grave) - [Tarand grave](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tarand_grave&action=edit&redlink=1) [[de](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarandgrab)] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Houghton Mifflin](/source/Houghton_Mifflin) (2000). [*The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language*](https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7/page/339) (4th ed.). Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. pp. [339](https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7/page/339). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-395-82517-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-395-82517-4). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Merriam-Webster Unabridged](http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com) (MWU). (Online subscription-based reference service of [Merriam-Webster](/source/Merriam-Webster), based on Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002.) Headword *cist*. Accessed 2007-12-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["A Cist Burial in Jordan"](http://www.calvin.edu/academic/archaeology/uj/publicat/reports/cheney.htm). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Callaway, Joseph A. (1963). ["Burials in Ancient Palestine: From the Stone Age to Abraham"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3210997). *The Biblical Archaeologist*. **26** (3): 74–91. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/3210997](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3210997). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [3210997](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3210997). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [165441707](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:165441707). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["The Early Minoan Period: The Tombs"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080323104956/http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/6.html). Archived from [the original](http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/6.html) on 2008-03-23. Retrieved 2008-03-30. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Excavation of Cist in Bologna, Italy"](http://www.wollamshram.ca/1001/Bologna/bologna_appen.htm). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** *[sv:likkista](https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/likkista)* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** *[da:ligkiste](https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/ligkiste)* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** *[no:kiste](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/kiste)* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** *[cistern](/source/Cistern)* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Roman Cist Found At Teffont Quarry. Date: 1950s Location: Teffont, Wiltshire. Reference: P35140. Type: Photograph (Print) [https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/P35140](https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/P35140) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Date: 1940. Location: Teffont, Wiltshire. Reference: P35139. Type: Photograph (Print) [https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/P35139](https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/P35139) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Grīviņš, Valters (2017). ["Vidzemes arheoloģiskās apbedījumu vietas"](https://www.historia.lv/sites/default/files/media/Biblioteka/Literatura/Metodiskie_materiali/2017/Novadpetnieku_macibas_04102017/vidzemes_arheologiskas_apbedijumu_vietas.pdf) (PDF). *Historia.lv*. ## External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Cist graves](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Cist_graves). - [Pretanic World - Chart of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Celtic Stone Structures](https://web.archive.org/web/20120312110327/http://www.pretanicworld.com/monuments.html) v t e Neolithic Europe (including the Chalcolithic) ↑ Mesolithic Europe ↑ Horizons Cardium pottery Corded Ware culture First Temperate Neolithic Linear Pottery culture (LBK) Cultures Baden Beaker Boian Butmir Cernavodă Cerny Chasséen Cortaillod Coțofeni Cucuteni–Trypillia Danilo Decea Mureşului Dudești Funnelbeaker Gaudo Globular Amphora Gornești Gumelnița–Karanovo Hamangia Horgen Kakanj Karanovo Lengyel Narva Neman Petrești Pit–Comb Ware Pitted Ware Pfyn Rössen Rzucewo Seine–Oise–Marne Sesklo Sopot Sredny Stog Starčevo–Körös–Criș Starčevo Körös Criş Tisza Tiszapolgár Varna Vinča Vlaardingen Vučedol Wartberg Windmill Hill Monumental architecture Bank barrow Causewayed enclosure Cist Cursus Dolmen Great dolmen Guardian stones Henge Kuyavian long barrows Long barrow Megalith Megalithic entrance Menhir Passage grave Polygonal dolmen Rectangular dolmen Rondel Round barrow Simple dolmen Statue menhir Stone circle Stone row Timber circle Tor enclosure Unchambered long barrow Technology Grooved ware Lithic industries Metallurgy Neolithic long house Unstan ware Concepts Danubian culture Secondary products revolution Old Europe Proto-Indo-Europeans ↓ Bronze Age Europe ↓ v t e Prehistoric technology Prehistory Timeline Outline Stone Age Subdivisions New Stone Age Technology history Glossary Tools Farming Neolithic Revolution Founder crops New World crops Ard / plough Celt Digging stick Domestication Goad Irrigation Secondary products Sickle Terracing Food processing (Paleolithic diet) Fire Basket Cooking Earth oven Granaries Grinding slab Ground stone Hearth Aşıklı Höyük Qesem Cave Manos Metate Mortar and pestle Pottery Quern-stone Storage pits Hunting Arrow Boomerang throwing stick Bow and arrow history Nets Spear spear-thrower baton harpoon Schöningen woomera Projectile points Arrowhead Transverse Bare Island Cascade Clovis Cresswell Cumberland Eden Folsom Lamoka Manis Mastodon Plano Systems Game drive system Buffalo jump Toolmaking Earliest toolmaking Oldowan Acheulean Mousterian Aurignacian Clovis culture Cupstone Fire hardening Gravettian culture Hafting Hand axe Grooves Langdale axe industry Levallois technique Lithic core Lithic reduction analysis debitage flake Lithic technology Magdalenian culture Metallurgy Microblade technology Mining Prepared-core technique Solutrean industry Striking platform Tool stone Uniface Yubetsu technique Other tools Adze Awl bone Axe Bannerstone Blade prismatic Bone tool Bow drill Burin Canoe Oar Pesse canoe Chopper tool Cleaver Denticulate tool Fire plough Fire-saw Hammerstone Knife Microlith Quern-stone Racloir Rope Scraper side Stone tool Tally stick Weapons Wheel illustration Architecture Ceremonial Kiva Pyramid Standing stones megalith row Stonehenge Dwellings Neolithic architecture long house British megalith architecture Nordic megalith architecture Burdei Cave Cliff dwelling Dugout Hut Quiggly hole Jacal Longhouse Mudbrick Mehrgarh Pit-house Pueblitos Pueblo Rock shelter Blombos Cave Abri de la Madeleine Sibudu Cave Roundhouse Stilt house Alp pile dwellings Stone roof Wattle and daub Water management Check dam Cistern Flush toilet Reservoir Well Other architecture Archaeological features Broch Burnt mound fulacht fiadh Causewayed enclosure Tor enclosure Circular enclosure Goseck Cursus Henge Thornborough Megalithic architectural elements Midden Oldest extant buildings Timber circle Timber trackway Sweet Track Arts and culture Material goods Baskets Beadwork Beds Chalcolithic Clothing/textiles timeline Cosmetics Glue Hides shoes Ötzi Jewelry amber use Mirrors Pottery Cardium Cord-marked Grooved ware Jōmon Linear Unstan ware Sewing needle Weaving Wine winery wine press Prehistoric art Art of the Upper Paleolithic Art of the Middle Paleolithic Blombos Cave List of Stone Age art Bird stone Cairn Carved stone balls Cave paintings Cup and ring mark Geoglyph Hill figure Golden hats Guardian stones Gwion Gwion rock paintings painting pigment Megalithic art Petroform Petroglyph Petrosomatoglyph Pictogram Rock art Rock cupule Stone carving Sculpture Statue menhir Stone circle list British Isles and Brittany Venus figurine Prehistoric music Evolutionary musicology music archaeology Alligator drum Paleolithic flute Divje Babe flute Gudi Prehistoric religion Evolutionary origin of religion Paleolithic religion Spiritual drug use Burial Burial mounds Bowl barrow Round barrow Mound Builders culture U.S. sites Chamber tomb Cotswold-Severn Cist Dartmoor kistvaens Clava cairn Court cairn Cremation Dolmen Great dolmen Funeral pyre Gallery grave transepted wedge-shaped Grave goods Jar burial Kuyavian long barrows Long barrow unchambered Grønsalen Megalithic tomb Mummy Passage grave Rectangular dolmen Ring cairn Simple dolmen Stone box grave Tor cairn Unchambered long cairn Other cultural Archaeoastronomy sites lunar calendar Behavioral modernity Origin of language Prehistoric counting Prehistoric medicine trepanning Prehistoric warfare Symbols symbolism --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cist) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cist?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.