Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel

Rock-cut tombs are a form of burial and interment chamber used in ancient Israel. Cut into the landscapes surrounding ancient Judean cities, their design ranges from single chambered, with simple square or rectangular layouts, to multi-chambered with more complex designs. Almost all burial chambers contain a platform for primary burial and an ossuary or other receptacle for secondary burial. There is debate on if these tombs were originally intended for secondary burials, or if that practice arose later. The use of rock-cut cave tombs in the region began in the early Canaanite period, from 3100–2900 BCE. The custom lapsed a millennium, however, before reemerging in the earliest Israelite tombs, dating to the 9th century BCE in Jerusalem. The use of rock-cut tombs reached its peak in the 7th and 8th centuries BCE, before rapidly declining and eventually falling out of use in the 6th century BCE in some regions. Use of the tombs has been recorded as recently as the Late Roman Period around the 3rd century CE. The use of such tombs was generally reserved for the middle- and upper-classes, and each typically belonged to a single nuclear or extended family.
Layout.
Tombs included a "dromos", or entry-way, through which the tomb was accessed via a descending staircase. Some tombs possess elaborate facades, with the tombs of Be'it She'arim being well known for this feature. Others, such as those outside of Jericho, had simple exteriors with a rectangular blocking stone or mudbrick. The simplest tombs feature a single, square chamber with a recess in the center with benches along its edges to allow space for visitors to stand. Into the surrounding walls, save for the side of the "dromos", were carved "loculi" approximately 2 meters in length. In more complex tombs, an internment room followed the entrance, in which the deceased's remains were lain on stone benches to decompose. A repository served as an ossuary and secondary burial sight to house the remains of the newly deceased with those of ancestors past. The repository also served to receive offerings to the deceased. The chambers of common rock-tombs were about 2.5m x 3m and laid out sequentially; however some had a more complex architecture of clustered and adjoining chambers – with the level of complexity relating to social status.
History.
Bronze Age: Canaanite tombs.
Early Canaanite I (3100–2900 BCE) period tombs are the earliest rock-cut tombs yet discovered in Israel; several have been found beneath the Ophel in Jerusalem. The custom had lapsed by the second millennium.
Iron Age: First Temple period.
In the Hebrew Bible.
A number of rock-cut tombs are mentioned in the Bible. Possibly the first, called "Cave of Machpelah", was purchased by Abraham for Sarah from Ephron the Hittite (). Traditionally, this tomb, which may have been either a rock-cut or a natural cave, is identified with the Cave of the Patriarchs in modern Hebron. According to very old traditions, Abraham, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah were also buried there (). The New Testament reaffirms this tradition: "Their (Jacob and his family) bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money" ().
Rock-cut tombs are also mentioned in the Book of Judges (), the Second Book of Samuel (), and the Second Books of Kings ().
Jerusalem.
The Silwan necropolis, the most important ancient cemetery of the First Temple period, is assumed to have been used by the highest-ranking officials residing in Jerusalem, the capital city of the Kingdom of Judah. Its tombs were cut between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE. It is located in the Kidron Valley across from biblical Jerusalem of the kings of Judah, in the lower part of the ridge where the village of Silwan now stands. The architecture of the tombs and the manner of burial is different "from anything known from contemporary Palestine. Elements such as entrances located high above the surface, gabled ceilings, straight ceilings with a cornice, trough-shaped resting-places with pillows, above-ground tombs, and inscriptions engraved on the facade appear only here." The stone benches on which bodies were laid out and the small square entrance doors are similar to those found elsewhere in Judah. Ussishkin believes that the architectural similarity to building styles of the Phoenician cities validates the Biblical description of Phoenician influence on the Israelite kingdoms. There are three different types of tombs in the Silwan necropolis, each type concentrated in one specific area. Seven of the tombs feature gabled ceilings and extremely fine stonework. David Ussishkin describes them as "among the most beautifully rock-cut tombs known in the Jerusalem area even when compared with tombs of later periods." In contrast with the extensive family tombs of later periods, these are for single or double burials, with only one of the seven having room for three bodies. Later destruction has effaced the original doorways. A second tomb type described by Ussishkin has flat ceilings and one, two, or three chambers of well-dressed stone carefully squared into spacious rooms. One features a rear chamber of especially "impressive" scale and quality. There are tombs combining characteristics of the two described here above. The third type consists of just three "magnificent" monolith tombs, now located in the northern part of the village. These have been carved out of the cliff to create free-standing buildings above the underground burial chambers. Hebrew inscriptions survive on these three tombs; these are the only ancient inscriptions that survive in Silwan.
Second Temple period.
Primary burials.
During the Hasmonean part of the Second Temple period, rock-cut tombs, not seen since the First Temple period, had a comeback among Judaeans, but were restricted to the elites. At the beginning of the Hasmonean period, under the influence of Hellenistic burial customs from Marisa, members of the elite were buried in wooden coffins inside shafts known in Latin as "loculi" and in Hebrew as "kokhim". Later, in the area of Jerusalem, primary burials took place either in "kokhim", or in arched niches known in Latin as "arcosolia".
However, the regular type of burial during the Early Roman period (c. 63 BCE – 70 CE), used by the non-elite population, was done in trenches. Trench burials were quite varied, with one or two bodies, either in primary or secondary burial, with even a case of an infant buried in a jar coming to light. If such a simple grave was hewn into the rock, archaeologists speak of a cist tomb (Keddie 2019, p. 227).
Some support the theory that in the Galilee, rock-cut tombs only had a comeback after the destruction of Jerusalem and the influx of refugees from Judaea after 70 CE (Keddie 2019, p. 237).
Secondary burials.
Elite burials happened in two phases, the second burial consisting in collecting the bones after the decomposition of the body and placing them in specific places within the tomb – a procedure known as "ossilegium". During the early Hasmonean period at Jericho, the bones were placed back in the primary burial niches or on benches. Around 20–15 BCE, Judaean elites started using ossuaries made of limestone, a custom that continued in the Jerusalem area until little after 70 CE (Keddie 2019, p. 230). The very large, monumental tombs of elite families from the Late Hellenistic period, often capped by pyramids or accompanied by impressive markers known as "nefesh", are giving way in the Early Roman period to such enhanced by elaborate and refined facade relief decorations (Keddie 2019, p. 229).
Jerusalem.
During the Second Temple period, rock-cut tombs were built outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem in every direction, but predominantly to the north and south of the city. The tombs extend as far as 7 km from the city walls, with the more prestigious tombs located close to the city.
The most elaborate group of tombs was in the Kidron Valley across from the Temple Mount. These include the Tomb of Benei Hezir with the adjacent so-called Tomb of Zechariah monument (actually not a tomb), and the Tomb of Absalom along with the Cave of Jehoshaphat located behind it. Among the notable tombs are the Jason's Tomb, a large, elaborate, family tomb with multiple chambers and inscriptions in both Hebrew and Greek and the Tombs of the Kings, which is actually the tomb of Queen Helena of Adiabene and her relatives. The elaborate Tombs of the Sanhedrin lie to the north of the city. They were so called by later generations because the largest of them contains 70 chambers with burial benches, and the Sanhedrin had seventy members. Each of the three tombs would actually have contained the burials of a single, multi-generational, wealthy family. They were constructed between the reign of Herod and the year 70.
Tomb of Jesus: Gospels and archaeology.
The Gospel of Matthew mentions the newly rock-cut tomb of Joseph of Arimathea ().
Proposed candidates for the tomb include the rock-cut chamber inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Talpiot Tomb, and the Garden Tomb.
Late Roman and Byzantine periods.
Beit She'arim.
The ruins of Beit She'arim (Sheikh Abrekh in arabic) in the Galilee preserve a vast necropolis with catacombs containing a large number of rock-cut Jewish tombs from the late 2nd to 6th centuries CE. The ancient city of Besara, or Beit She'arim, was located near what is now the modern town of Tivon. According to various sources, it was one of the most highly desired burial places for Jews in the ancient world, second only to the Mount of Olives in its desirability. This prestige is attributed to Beit She'arim being named as the burial place of Yehuda HaNasi (Judah the Prince), and is supported by its having the "highest concentration of graphite associated with late ancient Levantine Jewish populations." There are a total of 21 excavated catacombs currently excavated, though some experts estimate the remaining undiscovered remains could number in the hundreds or even thousands, with as much as two-thirds of the catacombs geographic spread remaining to be explored.
The graves are widely considered to be exceptional to the region, but others note that many of the death practices present are consistent with conventional Levantine practices.