View source for Cist

{{Short description|Small stone-built coffin-like box, ossua or dolmen}}
{{about|the type of grave|the medical phenomenon|Cyst|other uses}}
[[File:Drizzlecombe kist 4.JPG|thumb|[[Kistvaen]] on the southern edge of [[Dartmoor]] in [[Drizzlecombe]] (England) showing the capstone and the inner cist structure.]] [[Image:Cista.jpg|thumb|Cist]]
{{wikt | cist}}

In [[archeology]], a '''cist''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɪ|s|t}}; also '''kist''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɪ|s|t}};<ref>{{cite book | author = Houghton Mifflin | author-link = Houghton Mifflin | title = The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language | edition = 4th | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | year = 2000 | location = Boston and New York | pages = [https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7/page/339 339] | url = https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7/page/339 | isbn = 978-0-395-82517-4 | url-access = registration }}</ref><ref>[http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com Merriam-Webster Unabridged] (MWU). (Online subscription-based reference service of [[Merriam-Webster]], based on Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002.) Headword ''cist''. Accessed 2007-12-11.</ref>
ultimately from {{langx|grc|κίστη}}; cognate to {{langx|en|chest}}) or '''cist grave''' is a small stone-built coffin-like box or [[ossuary]] used to hold the [[Dead body|bodies of the dead]]. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper [[shaft tomb]]. Examples occur across Europe and in the Middle East.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.calvin.edu/academic/archaeology/uj/publicat/reports/cheney.htm | title = A Cist Burial in Jordan}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/3210997 | title = Burials in Ancient Palestine: From the Stone Age to Abraham | jstor = 3210997 | last1 = Callaway | first1 = Joseph A. | journal = The Biblical Archaeologist | year = 1963 | volume = 26 | issue = 3 | pages = 74–91 | doi = 10.2307/3210997 | s2cid = 165441707| url-access = subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url= http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/6.html |title= The Early Minoan Period: The Tombs |access-date= 2008-03-30 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080323104956/http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/6.html |archive-date= 2008-03-23 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.wollamshram.ca/1001/Bologna/bologna_appen.htm | title = Excavation of Cist in Bologna, Italy}}</ref>
A cist may have formerly been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a [[cairn]] or a long [[tumulus|barrow]]. 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 {{lang|sv|kista|italic= yes}} in Swedish and {{lang|da|kiste|italic= yes}} in Danish and Norwegian, as well as in Dutch ({{lang|nl|kist|italic= yes}}), where it is the word for a [[funerary]] coffin.<ref>''[[:sv:likkista]]''</ref><ref>''[[:da:ligkiste]]''</ref><ref>''[[:no:kiste]]''</ref>  In English the term is related to ''cistern''<ref>''[[cistern]]''</ref> and to ''chest''.

== Regional examples ==
[[File:StoneCistGraves.jpg|thumb|Stone cist graves from a Bronze Age site in Northern Estonia]]
[[File:Rebala kivikalmed 2021.ogv|thumb|Drone video of stone cist graves in Jõelähtme, Estonia]]

;England
* [[Teffont Evias]], England<ref>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</ref><ref> Date: 1940. Location: Teffont, Wiltshire. Reference: P35139. Type:  Photograph (Print) https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/P35139</ref>

;Estonia
* [[Rebala Heritage Reserve|Jõelähtme (Rebala) stone-cist graves]], Harju County

;Guatemala
* [[Mundo Perdido, Tikal]], Petén Department

;Ireland
* [[Knockmaree Dolmen]], [[Phoenix Park]], [[Dublin]]

;Israel
* [[Tel Kabri#Areas|Tel Kabri]] (Area A), Upper Galilee

;Latvia
* [[Batariņi]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grīviņš |first=Valters |date=2017 |title=Vidzemes arheoloģiskās apbedījumu vietas |url=https://www.historia.lv/sites/default/files/media/Biblioteka/Literatura/Metodiskie_materiali/2017/Novadpetnieku_macibas_04102017/vidzemes_arheologiskas_apbedijumu_vietas.pdf |website=Historia.lv}}</ref>

;Scotland
* Balblair cist, [[Beauly]], Inverness{{cn|date=July 2022}}
* [[Dunan Aula]], Craignish, Argyll and Bute
* [[Holm, Inverness|Holm]] Mains Farm, Inverness
* [[Nether Mill]], Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire

;Sri Lanka
* [[Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Tombs|Ibbankatuwa Megalithic]] Stones
* [[Haldummulla|Udaranchamadama]]

==See also==
* [[Kistvaen]]
* [[Dartmoor kistvaens]]
* [[Stone box grave]]
*{{ill|Tarand grave|de|Tarandgrab}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat|Cist graves}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120312110327/http://www.pretanicworld.com/monuments.html Pretanic World - Chart of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Celtic Stone Structures]

{{Neolithic Europe}}
{{Prehistoric technology| state=expanded}}

[[Category:Burial monuments and structures]]
[[Category:Archaeology of death]]