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‘Atiqot 54 (2006)
ISBN 2948-040X
A Burial Cave of the Second Temple Period in the Arnona Quarter, Jerusalem
(Hebrew, pp. 15*–29*; English summary, pp. 154–156)
Ya‘akov Billig
Keywords: burial, cemetery, burial goods, numismatics, epigraphy, art
The cave has one burial chamber. In its center is a rectangular, rock-hewn standing pit, flanked by three benches and six loculi (
kokhim
), and two repositories. All of the
kokhim
, save one, were sealed with their blocking stones. Found on the benches and in the
kokhim
were ten ossuaries with their covers and one single cover. One of the ossuaries (No. 1) was inscribed with Aramaic and Hebrew inscriptions; the others were incised, decorated or painted. Numerous objects were discovered in the cave, including pottery vessels, stone vessels, a stone spindle whorl, glass inlays, glass beads, a bone kohl spoon, metal vessels, a coin and human skeletal remains. The cave was used over a long period of time, from the end of the Hasmonean period (second half of the first century BCE) until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Most of the finds date to the Herodian period.