Encyclopedia > Kistvaen

  Article Content

Kistvaen

A kistvaen is a (usually pre-Christian) stone coffin, derived from the Celtic cist, meaning chest and maen meaning stone.

Many fine examples of kistvaens are to be found on Dartmoor. 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 with the ashes placed in a cinerary urn.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Thomas a Kempis

... that the piety commended by the "Imitation" is of a selfish monkish type. It was written by a monk and intended for the convent; it lays stress on the passiv ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 41.1 ms