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The Cemetery as a Symbol: a Reconsideration of Chalcolithic Burial Caves in the Southern Levant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2011

Assaf Nativ  and
Avi Gopher
Assaf Nativ
Affiliation:
Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Ramat Aviv, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel, Email: [email protected]
Avi Gopher
Affiliation:
Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Ramat Aviv, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The deposits of disarticulated human remains in caves, often associated with designated ceramic receptacles, is one of the most striking hallmarks of the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant. Owing however to their perplexing variability, this phenomenon is still poorly understood. Approaching these sites as cemeteries and social institutions, this article presents a reconsideration of their structures, temporal trajectories and meanings. It is argued that at least two regional subgroups can be distinguished, differing in the identities they structure, their concerns and their underlying logic.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 229 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2011

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