142 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



divided in its long direction into two by a stone slab down 

 the middle. 



The cists were oblong, the length exceeding the breadth, 

 and although they varied in size, those for adults being 

 larger than those for children, they were always shorter than 

 would have been required for a body to be extended at full 

 length. As the end stones were usually set within the ex- 

 tremities of the side stones, the internal measurement of 

 length was some inches less than the external. The average 

 dimensions may be given for the interior about 4 feet in 

 length, 2 feet in breadth, and 2 feet in depth. The cover 

 slab was much larger both in length and breadth, as it over- 

 lapped both the sides and ends. 



These cists remind one in their general form and plan, 

 but on a much smaller scale, both as regards the size of the 

 enclosed space and the magnitude of the stones, of the 

 dolmens so frequent in Brittany. As survivals in modern 

 times we may point to the empty stone boxes, on the cover 

 stone of which an inscription is incised, to be seen in so 

 many country churchyards, built on the ground superficial 

 to the pit in which the body in its wooden coffin has been 

 inhumed. 



Owing to the shortness of the cist the body could not 

 be extended at full length, but was laid upon its side, with 

 the elbows bent, so that the hands were close to the face ; 

 the hips and knee joints were also bent so that the knees 

 were in front of the body. 



Usually only a single skeleton has been found in a cist, 

 either a man or a woman as the case may be. Sometimes 

 two skeletons have been seen, at times a man's and a 

 woman's, doubtless husband and wife ; in others the second 

 skeleton has been that of a child. Sometimes the cist was 

 below the average in size, and contained only the skeleton 

 of a child or young person. Such examples throw light 

 upon the family relations of the people of this period. 

 They show that they desired to preserve the associations 

 of kinsfolk even after death ; and when the cist contained 

 the remains only of a child it was constructed with the same 

 care as if it had been the tomb of a chief. 



When cremated bodies are found associated with stone 



