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‘Atiqot 61 (2009)
ISBN 2948-040X
The Ancient Cemetery at Migdal Ha‘Emeq (el-Mujeidil)
(Hebrew, pp. 1*–47*; English summary, pp. 131–132)
Ayelet Tatcher and Zvi Gal
Keywords: Jewish cemetery, burial gifts, glass finds, jewelry, coins, winepress
Sixteen tombs were excavated in the northern part of the city of Migdal Ha-‘Emeq in the Galilee. These rock-hewn tombs belong to a large cemetery, which was used during the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods; a secondary use of the tombs was made during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. Tow tomb groups were documented: the early tombs comprised loculi (
kokhim
) and were sealed by a roll stone; the later tombs comprised
arcosolia
with burial troughs and their opening was frequently sealed by a roll stone. The finds within the tombs—a limestone ossuary, an oil lamp decorated with a menorah and lamps with a broken discus—suggest that the cemetery belonged to a Jewish settlement during the Roman and Byzantine periods.