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‘Atiqot 83 (2015)
ISBN 2948-040X
Roman Burial Caves at I‘billin
(with a contribution by Irina Segal)
(pp. 93–123)
Nurit Feig and Shulamit Hadad
Keywords: Lower Galilee, cemetery, loculi (kokhim), burial goods, ethnicity, kohl analysis, purity laws, Jewish halakha
A complex of three burial caves, dated to the first–fourth centuries CE, was exposed at the site. The caves yielded coffins, stone and clay ossuaries, and hundreds of artifacts, among them 300 lamps and many glass vessels, including a kohl bottle and a copper-alloy spatula. All the lamps—except one, imported from Cnidos—were locally made. All the lamps were found with their discus broken, a practice usually attributed to a Jewish population. The glass vessels are all closed vessels, typical of Early Roman-period burials. Two small beads, made of bluish green glass, were also retrieved. These caves are an additional link in the chain of Jewish burials in Lower Galilee.