A cist is a box-like grave lined and covered with flat stone slabs, commonly used for Bronze Age burials in Ireland, and this one is remarkably compact, measuring just 0.58 metres long, 0.38 metres wide, and 0.61 metres deep internally. That so many individuals were interred in such a confined space is itself unusual, and raises questions about community, kinship, or ritual that the archaeological record alone cannot fully answer.

The find was documented by Ryan in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (1979-80), and later noted by John Waddell in his survey of Irish Bronze Age burial practices (1990). The accompanying object, described as a plano-convex knife, is a type of flint tool characteristic of the Irish Early Bronze Age, shaped by fine flaking on one face to produce a curved profile. Its presence alongside multiple cremations suggests the burial carried some deliberate significance, though whether the knife was a personal possession, a ritual deposit, or something else entirely remains open. The site sits in agricultural ground with views towards Lambay Island, a volcanic island off the Dublin coast, which itself has a long history of prehistoric occupation.

Beau is a small townland near the coast between Skerries and Rush, and the cist itself is no longer visible above ground; it was discovered accidentally and the location is within working farmland. Anyone with a particular interest in the wider landscape can get a reasonable sense of the setting from the coastal roads in the area, where the flatness of the terrain and the proximity of Lambay become apparent. The island sits only a few kilometres offshore and would have been a visible presence in the lives of whoever left their dead here. For those researching Bronze Age Dublin more formally, Ryan's original report and Waddell's 1990 publication remain the primary references for the find.