Early Jewish Tombs
Literary sources tell us much about beliefs pertaining to death and the afterlife, as well as funerary customs in general, but very little about actual burial practices. Archaeology fills this lacuna.
Two main types of burials are known from the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods: rockcut burial caves and shaft graves. The most common in the archaeological record are burial caves, the simplest of which consist of a chamber surrounded with hewn loculi (niches) and/or arcosolia (arched niches with shelves to hold the bodies). Several hundred burial caves are known from the land of Israel, most dating to the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods.
Burial caves are highly concentrated within the ancient city limits of Jerusalem, which reflects the diverse socioeconomic status of the families who owned them. Some had exteriors fronted by forecourts, and a few were topped by monumental superstructures, as with the well-known examples in the Kidron Valley. Some burial caves consisted of multiple interconnected chambers that formed large underground complexes, sometimes with decorated façades, and a few had mourning enclosures and adjoining mikvaot. The most luxurious burials were situated within Jerusalem’s hinterland, but a few other examples are known from elsewhere too, such as Jericho. In general, however, burial caves associated with rural settlements were plain and simple.
In essence, burial caves were family tombs that accommodated several generations. The deceased was generally wrapped in a shroud and sometimes, as in arid regions like ‘En Gedi and Jericho, placed in a wooden coffin. Sometimes, especially in more humid environments, individuals were interred in stone sarcophagi, but these are very rare and limited to elite burials.
Burial caves often contained multiple loculi, with the most prominent intended for primary interment. There is ample evidence for the practice of secondary burial, in which bones were relocated to make space for new burials. In the late second and first centuries BCE, bones were secondarily gathered in pits or loculi. From the late first century BCE onward, stone ossuaries were used for that purpose. Some of the ossuaries were intricately decorated with floral and geometric motifs, and many of them were incised with inscriptions denoting the names and familial relations of the deceased. Ossuaries remained in use until the third century, although their zenith was in the first century CE.
Most burial caves tend to be empty, largely because of modern looting or some disturbance in antiquity. However, a number of undisturbed caves survived that contained a variety of grave goods, including pottery, glass vessels, jewelry, cosmetic utensils, and coins. Sometimes it can be determined that a cave was in use over several centuries. The reasons behind the deposition of grave goods is debated, especially since there is no indication that Jews believed they would have needed these goods in the afterlife. Some may not even have embraced a belief in an afterlife. In the case of pottery, it is possible that vessels were deposited in burial caves because they became ritually impure through contact with the deceased. Other items, such as ceramic and glass perfume bottles and lamps, could have been associated with funerary customs or practical issues relating to burial. Personal items could also have been buried with the deceased for sentimental reasons.
Shaft graves, which consist of a hewn shaft with or without a side or central loculus, usually closed off with stones or mud bricks at the bottom, are the other (and much more inexpensive) type of burial site. The most famous cemetery of this type is the one at Qumran, but many others have been identified in Jerusalem and its environs, around the Dead Sea, along the coastal plain, and elsewhere. Many of these simple graves must have belonged to members of the poorer strata of society. But others, such as those at Qumran, which was home to the sectarian group associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls, likely reflect an intentional rejection of luxury and the lack of familial ties within the group. Shaft graves are less common than burial caves in the archaeological record, despite the fact that they were once probably much more common; they are harder to detect and more easily destroyed by later development.
In the late Roman and Byzantine periods, the evidence is more limited, but we know of a number of burial caves and shaft graves associated with Jewish settlements in the Galilee. One cemetery of note is at Beth Shearim. Here, the necropolis included large burial complexes with monumental façades. Some of these contained stone sarcophagi adorned with figurative art, including figures from Greek mythology. R. Simeon ben Gamaliel was buried in one of these complexes.
A number of hypogea (underground tombs or catacombs) are also known to us from the diaspora. Most significant are the catacombs in Rome, which contained numerous loculi, hewn at varying heights into the walls of narrow corridors, as well as arcosolia (sg., arcosolium, arched cells in Roman catacombs). The catacombs were painted with frescoes depicting animals, birds, and human images, as well as typical Jewish motifs (e.g., menorahs, shofars). Hundreds of epitaphs and inscriptions, mostly in Greek and Latin, as well as artifacts including lamps, golden glasses depicting Jewish symbols, and other small finds were preserved in Jewish burial complexes in Rome.