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‘Atiqot 80 (2015)
ISBN 2948-040X
Excavations on Sallah ed-Din Street, Jerusalem, and the Northern Cemetery of Aelia Capitolina
(pp. 45–71)
Gideon Avni and Zubeir Adawi
Keywords: necropolis, burial, Roman army, votive lead objects, jewelry, Third Wall, city boundaries, ethnicity
Excavations west of Sallah ed-Din Street exposed 57 cist tombs and 4 rock-cut burial caves within one of Jerusalem’s largest ancient burial grounds. A relatively large amount of grave goods was recovered from the tombs, including pottery, glass vessels, lead objects and jewelry. None of the finds exhibit Jewish or early Christian ornamentation, thus indicating that these communities were not among the population of Aelia Capitolina at the time. The area was exploited as an open quarry during the late Second Temple period, and some of the Late Roman tombs were cut into that quarry. Following the abandonment of the cemetery in the early Byzantine period, quarrying activity was renewed, resulting in the destruction of some of the ancient tombs.