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‘Atiqot 74 (2013)
ISBN 2948-040X
A Late Bronze Age Cemetery on the Coast of Palmahim
(pp. 9–57)
Eli Yannai, Ram Gophna, Shmuel Liphshitz and Yuval Liphshitz
Keywords: Mediterranean coast, necropolis, burial, burial offerings, typology, metal, scarab
A total of 23 tombs were excavated in the Palmahim Northern Cemetery, located on the shore, some 200 m south of Nahal Soreq’s outlet to the Mediterranean Sea, just north of Yavne-Yam. The tombs were hewn in bedrock and lined with stone slabs, a method of burial that is almost unique in the Late Bronze Age in Israel. The pottery from the Northern Cemetery was in a fine state of preservation, pointing to various production techniques, such as knife-paring, slipping, burnishing and painting. The assemblage, dating between the late fourteenth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries BCE, includes local wares alongside imported vessels from Cyprus—Base Ring Ware, White Slip Ware, Plain White Wheel-Made Ware and Red Lustrous Wheel-Made Ware. Also found were imports from the Lebanese coast and a Mycenaean piriform jar. The high proportion of imports at Palmahim reflects the economic and cultural aspects of the region during the Late Bronze Age.