Clara Vale, cist burial with beaker

In 1911 a cist burial with skeletal remains and a beaker was found during the ploughing of one of the hills in a field close to Clara Vale Colliery. The cist, orientated east-west, was 3 feet 8 in long x 2 feet 4 in wide at the west end, 1 feet 9 in at the east, and 2 feet 5 in deep. The sides were made of single stone slabs, the floor and top of several pieces. The burial was a contracted inhumation, the remains being of an adult male, with femurs 18 in (45.7 cm) long, and the beaker was found beneath the left arm in the south-east corner of the cist. The vessel, 195 mm high, with a rim diam of 135 mm, was decorated with encircling notched lines in groups of three, divided from one another by notches, herringbone, upright lines of notching, and a trellis pattern. Two plain bands divide the decoration into three zones. The present location of the vessel is obscure, but it may be in the British Museum.