Shaft Graves, Qumran

1st Century BCE–1st Century CE

Diagram of a vertical shaft in brown earth, with mudbrick slabs across a lower chamber. Below the slabs is a human figure lying on its back with the head facing forward. — Shaft Grave Schematic. Drawing by Bill Nelson, adapted with permission from the Biblical Archaeology Society.

Scattered piles and circles of stones arranged on a dry, rocky desert landscape with distant mountains and sparse vegetation under a hazy sky. — Grave Mounds. © Todd Bolen / BiblePlaces.com.

Graves in Antiquity

The site of Qumran contains a classic example of a cemetery with shaft graves, dating to the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. The poorest members of society were buried in such graves and in cist tombs. Both consisted of rectangular shafts dug into the ground, with the latter being shallower. Typically, shaft graves had a side burial chamber at the bottom, but examples with a central chamber are also attested. The chamber could accommodate both single and multiple interments, although the former were more common. Stone slabs or mud bricks were used to seal the chamber, and the shaft was then filled in with earth. The grave was then marked by a heap or outline of stones.