While most cists at Ibban Katuwa contain only a single burial, the one shown here is a rare multiple burial, where the cist chamber has been divided into two compartments. The contents of this and the other graves have, of course, been removed to the site museum for conservation and display.

Megalithic technology in Europe dates back to the Neolithic (4th millennium BC). However, in South Asia this technology appears only much later, in the Early Iron Age: there is no Neolithic period, as such, in South Asia. In particular, the cist burials at Ibban Katuwa are dated by radiocarbon analysis to the 6th century BC.