An Early Bronze Age multiple burial cist from Mill Road Industrial Estate, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Abstract

Evaluation of a short cist discovered during construction works revealed five inhumations and a cremation. The burial group consisted of a minimum of five children and an adult with a misshapen skull. Four of the burials have been dated to the Early Bronze Age. The burials were accompanied by a piece of flint debitage and a retouched tool. The cist has been placed in a substantial pit an constructed in such a way that it could be reopened. It is argued that the cist was the focus of complex burial rituals that took place periodically and involved the specific selection of individual for insertion in the cist. Includes separately authored reports on: