Outside of life: traditions of infant burial in Ireland from cillin to cist

Abstract

The infant forms an ambiguous class of individual, located on the periphery of normal lifecycle events. This is often reflected in the character and choice of burial location. During the Historic period in Ireland the separate burial of unbaptised infants reused earlier monuments, particularly those with Early Christian associations. These cillini (children's burial grounds) were frequently situated in marginal locations and their identification with the host site often enhanced their ambiguous and liminal character. A review of the prehistoric evidence also suggests the differential treatment of infants during the Neolithic-Early Bronze Age, in particular the location of infant burials in the passages of two later Neolithic sites at Fourknocks, Co. Meath. The reuse of earlier megaliths for infant burials may reflect the reinvention of these sites in the contemporary mythological landscape at a latter stage in their own monumental lifecycle.