A cist (IPA ) is a small stone-built coffin-like box used to hold the bodies of the dead (notably during the Bronze Age in the British Isles and occasionally in Native American burials). The sides are usually built of single slabs.

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. Occasionally, ornaments have been found within a cist under excavation, which could indicate the wealth of the interred individual.

See also

• kistvaen

Death customs