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cist

 
Dictionary: cist1   (sĭst) pronunciation
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n.
A wicker receptacle used in ancient Rome for carrying sacred utensils in a procession.

[Latin cista, from Greek kistē.]


cist2 (sĭst, kĭst) pronunciation also kist (kĭst)
n.
A stone-lined grave, especially a tomb consisting of a pit lined with stones and often having a lid of stone or wood.

[Welsh, chest, from Latin cista, basket. See cist1.]


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Architecture and Landscaping: cist
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Home > Library > Home & Garden > Architecture and Landscaping

Box-like prehistoric grave made of rectangular slabs of stone set on edge, often concealed under a cairn.

Archaeology Dictionary: cist
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Home > Library > Science > Archaeology Dictionary

[Co]

Stone-lined burial pit, sometimes sealed below a barrow mound, within which cremation or inhumation burials were placed. The stone walls frequently supported a flat cover-slab.
Wikipedia: Cist
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Cist
For the Mediterranean flower, see Cistaceae.
For the American Civil War general, see Henry M. Cist.
For a sac of tissue in the body, see Cyst.

A cist (pronounced /ˈkɪst/ or /ˈsɪst/) or kist (/ˈkɪst/),[1][2] from the Greek: κίστη, is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found all over the world.[3][4][5][6] A cist may have been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a cairn or long barrow. It would not be uncommon to find several cists 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.

Kistvaen on the southern edge of Dartmoor in Drizzlecombe showing the capstone and the inner cist structure.

In Devonshire a local word for a cist in Modern Cornish is kistvaen. There are numerous Dartmoor kistvaens.



Contents

Regional examples

Scotland

  • Balblair cist, Beauly, Inverness
  • Holm Mains Farm, Inverness

References

  1. ^ Houghton Mifflin (2000). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed ed.). Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 339. ISBN 978-0-395-82517-4. http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/epub/ahd4.shtml. 
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ A Cist Burial in Jordan
  4. ^ Burials in Ancient Palestine: From the Stone Age to Abraham
  5. ^ The Early Minoan Period: The Tombs
  6. ^ Excavation of Cist in Bologna, Italy

See also

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture and Landscaping. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Copyright © 1999, 2006 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cist".  Read more