Unique decorated coffins from the days after the Bar Kochba revolt were discovered by Israel Police and the Antiquities Authority after grave robbers uncovered and hid the burial cave they were located in.
After receiving intelligence on the matter, inspectors from the Antiquities Authority and police from the Kafr Kanna police station found that extensive infrastructure work had been carried out at a private lot in the Mashhad Regional Council, completely destroying an ancient burial cave. All that remained of the cave that originally had nine burial mounds was a single burial mound.
Three decorated stone ossuaries used in ancient times to collect human bones were found empty at the entrance to the cave. The ossuaries were not in their natural place, raising suspicions that the cave had been robbed.
Several suspects were summoned for questioning on suspicion of damaging antiquities and failing to report the discovery of antiquities.
What do the ossuaries look like?
The ossuaries are made of soft limestone, rectangular in shape and have flat lids adapted to the coffins, according to Dr. Eitan Klein, deputy director of the Antiquities Authority’s Robbery Prevention Unit.
Video of a burial cave discovered after grave robbers damaged it, north of Nazareth. May 2023. (Credit: Nir Distelfeld/Israel Antiquities Authority’s Robbery Prevention Unit)
The decorated ossuaries were used by Jews in the Galilee during the 2nd-3rd centuries CE with symbols from Jewish burial culture and Greek culture carved on them.
On top of one of the coffins, a carving resembling a mausoleum was found, while a circular wreath with holes drilled into it was found on the other side of it. The wreath probably symbolizes the victory of the deceased over death, according to Klein.
“These symbols are very typical of the stone ossuaries used by the Jewish population in the Galilee in the Middle Roman period,” explained Klein. “In the past, similar decoration models were discovered on stone glosses from the Tzipori site. In the archaeological research of the Land of Israel, it is accepted that stone ossuaries are an exclusive feature of the burial of the Jewish population at the end of the days of the Second Temple – mainly in the 1st centuries BCE until the days of the Bar Kochba revolt, in the 2nd century CE.”
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