Rock-cut Tombs in Israel - First Temple Period

First Temple Period

One of the major collections of rock-cut tombs in Israel is the necropolis of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, which had its capital in Jerusalem. These were cut between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE. The necropolis is located on a rocky ridge across the Kidron Valley from the city. The Arab village of Silwan was later built atop the necropolis. Although the existence of ancient tombs in the village of Silwan had been known since the 19th century, the first careful survey was not performed until 1968. Charles Warren, who was thwarted in his efforts to carry out a full survey of the tombs, in some of which villagers were living, attributed this to "the hostile nature of the villagers" whom he described as "a lawless set." All of the tombs were long since emptied and their contents removed. A great deal of destruction was done to the tombs over the centuries by quarrying and by their conversion for use as housing, both by monks in the Byzantine period, when some were used as churches, and later by Muslim villagers: "When the Arab village was built; tombs were destroyed, incorporated in houses or turned into water cisterns and sewage dumps."

The necropolis, or ancient cemetery, is an archaeological site of major significance. It contains fifty rock-cut tombs of distinguished caliber, assumed to be the burial places of the highest ranking officials of the Judean kingdom. Tomb inscriptions are in Hebrew. The most famous of the ancient rock-cut tombs in Silwan is the finely carved monolith known as the Monolith of Silwan.

Seven of the tombs feature gabled ceilings and extremely fine stonework. David Ussishkin describes them as "among the most beautifully rock-cut tombs known in the Jerusalem area even when compared with tombs of later periods." In contrast with the extensive family tombs of later periods, these are for single or double burials, with only one of the seven having room for three bodies. Later destruction has effaced the original doorways.

A second tomb type described by Ussishkin has flat ceilings and 1, 2 or 3 chambers of well-dressed stone carefully squared into spacious rooms. One features a rear chamber of especially "impressive" scale and quality. Three "magnificent" tombs in the northern part of the village had been carved to create free-standing buildings above the underground burial chambers. Hebrew inscriptions survive on these three tombs; these are the only ancient inscriptions that survive in Silwan. The Monolith of Silwan is the only one of the three in which the above-ground chamber survives, although the pyramid-shaped roof is missing because it was quarried for stone. The ceiling is gabled.

Another former monolith was first described in 1968 by Ussishkin. At that time it was located under the courtyard of a modern-period house serving as a cistern. It has "the finest and most delicate stone dressing in the Silwan necropolis." The upper story was destroyed for use as quarried stone in the Roman/Byzantine period. Only a small section of the inscription survived to be recorded by Ussishkin. The first line is " burial of Z ...". The second line "(the one) who op (this tomb) . .." The third line was illegible.

The architecture of the tombs and the manner of burial is different "from anything known from contemporary Palestine. Elements such as entrances located high above the surface, gabled ceilings, straight ceilings with a cornice, trough-shaped resting-places with pillows, above-ground tombs, and inscriptions engraved on the facade appear only here." The stone benches on which bodies were laid out and the small square entrance doors are similar to those found elsewhere in Judah. Ussishkin believes that the architectural similarity to building styles of the Phoenician cities validates the Biblical description of Phoenician influence on the Israelite kingdoms.

All of the tombs in the necropolis were emptied long ago and their contents removed. If the ancient Israelite kingdoms followed the practice of other west-Semitic kingdoms, the kings themselves would have been buried within the city walls, underneath the royal palace.