A kistvaen or cistvaen is a

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

burial chamber A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could ...

formed from flat stone slabs in a box-like shape. If set completely underground, it may be covered by a ''

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

''. The word is derived from the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East ...

'' (chest) and ''maen'' (stone). The term originated in relation to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

structures, typically pre-Christian, but in

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

scholarship of the 19th and early 20th centuries it was sometimes applied to similar structures outside the Celtic world. Kist off merrivale row-4

One of the most numerous kinds of kistvaen are the

Dartmoor kistvaens Dartmoor kistvaens are burial tombs or cists from the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, i.e. from c 2500 BC to c 1500 BC. Kistvaens have been found in many places, including Dartmoor, a area of moorland in south Devon, England. The box-like ...

. These often take the form of small rectangular pits about 3 ft. (0.9 m) long by 2 feet (0.6 m) wide. The kistvaens were usually covered with a mound of earth and surrounded by a circle of small stones. When a body was placed in the kistvaen, it was usually lain in a contracted position. Sometimes however the body was

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

with the ashes placed in a

cinerary urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

Kistvaens and Celtic saints

Kistvaens are also found associated with holy sites or burial places of early Celtic saints, who are often semi-legendary. Saints associated with kistvaens include Callwen daughter of

Brychan Brychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales. Life According to Celtic hagiography Brychan was born in Ireland, the son of a Prince Anlach, son of Coronac, and h ...

Geraint Geraint () is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a valiant warrior possibly related to the historical Geraint, an early 8th-century king of Dumnonia. It is also the name of a 6th-century Dumnonian saint king from Briton hag ...

Begnet St. Begnet (7th century?), also Begneta, Begnete, Begnait or Becnait is a patron saint of Dalkey, Ireland. She is noted as a "virgin, not a martyr." Her feast day is November 12.Crosthwaite, p. lxv. Two ruined churches in Dalkey are named for B ...

, and

Melangell Saint Melangell ( la, Monacella) was an Irish nun who died in 590. Her feast day is celebrated on 27 May. The daughter of an Irish king, she went to Powys in central Wales to become a hermit. The prince of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, granted her l ...

. Foundation remains of stone slab- or gable-shrines, or the '' cella memoriae'' of Mediterranean origin, may sometimes have been misunderstood in an earlier era of scholarship as a kistvaen, and the subject is complicated by this "woolly nomenclature."''Ulster Journal of Archaeology'' 63 (2004), p. 144.

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Dartmoor tomb raiders
{{Prehistoric technology Dartmoor Burial monuments and structures Archaeology of death de:Steinkiste sv:Hällkista

Kistvaens and Celtic saints

See also

References

External links