Distancing the Dead: Late Chalcolithic Burials in Large Maze Caves in the Negev Desert, Israel

The Late Chalcolithic of the southern Levant (ca. 4500-3800 B.C.E.) is known for its extensive use of the subterranean sphere for mortuary practices. Numerous natural and hewn caves, constituting formal extramural cemeteries, were used as secondary burial localities for multiple individuals, reflect...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Davidovich, Uri (Author) ; Marom, Nimrod (Author) ; Abramov, Julia (Author) ; Frumkin, Amos 1953- (Author) ; Langford, Boaz (Author) ; Langgut, Dafna (Author) ; Ullman, Micka (Author) ; Yahalom-Mack, Naama (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: The University of Chicago Press 2018
In: Bulletin of ASOR
Year: 2018, Issue: 379, Pages: 113-152
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
HH Archaeology
KBL Near East and North Africa
Further subjects:B cave burials
B animal husbandry
B Ashalim Cave
B Qina Cave
B social deviancy
B Levant
B Chalcolithic
B mortuary practices
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Summary:The Late Chalcolithic of the southern Levant (ca. 4500-3800 B.C.E.) is known for its extensive use of the subterranean sphere for mortuary practices. Numerous natural and hewn caves, constituting formal extramural cemeteries, were used as secondary burial localities for multiple individuals, reflecting and reaffirming social order and/or communal identity and ideology. Recently, two large complex caves located in the northern Negev Highlands, south of the densely settled Late Chalcolithic province of the Beersheba Valley, yielded skeletal evidence for secondary interment of select individuals accompanied by sets of material culture that share distinct similarities. The observed patterns suggest that the interred individuals belonged to sedentary communities engaging in animal husbandry, and they were deliberately distanced after their death, both above-ground (into the desert) and underground (deep inside subterranean mazes), deviating from common cultural practices.
ISSN:2161-8062
Contains:Enthalten in: American Schools of Oriental Research, Bulletin of ASOR
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.5615/bullamerschoorie.379.0113