In June and September 2017, trial and salvage excavations took place at Kefar Yuval (Permit No. A-8009; map ref. 255738-894/794259-354; Fig. 1) prior to construction. The excavation was directed by R. Assis, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, with the assistance of Y. Ya‘aqobi (administration), M. Kahan and R. Liran (surveying and drafting), M. Peleg (field photography), Y. Nagar (physical anthropology), R. Kapul, U. Berger, A. Kleiner, Y. Amitzur, Y. Tzur, H. Bron, E. Stern, A. Sánchez, B. Hana (area supervisors), K. Covello-Paran (archaeological guidance), S. Itkis (plan), L. Kupershmidt (metal laboratory) and C. Amit (finds photography) and R. Kool (numismatics).
The present excavation was located on the eastern part of the site, in an area of basalt and limestone rock. An Ottoman cemetery, whose burials were dug into the softer limestone, was discovered (Fig. 3; Table 1). A few of the burials were lined with stones. The hewn burials were found covered with coarsely worked basalt slabs, and basalt building stones in secondary use as cover slabs. The burials lay on an approximate east–west axis, with their legs in the east and their heads in the west, and the deceased faced south, according to the Islamic custom. A single burial (L115) faced north. In the cemetery, there were observed some groups of graves that deviated slightly from this east-west axis, as well as graves whose cover stones had been robbed, apparently to cover later burials that cut into earlier ones. Thus, a few bones were found outside the graves. The burials were covered over after excavation.
Table 1. Description of the Graves and Finds
Grave No. |
State of Bone Preservation |
Age (years) |
Sex |
Measurements (m) |
Detail, Artifacts |
101 |
No bones found |
|
|
0.50 × 1.00 |
Grave hewn but apparently not used, or infant burial, bones disintegrated |
103 |
Disintegrating |
8–9 |
|
0.40 × 1.20 |
|
104 |
Disintegrating |
|
|
0.50 × 1.60 |
|
105 |
Poor |
5–10 |
Female |
0.35 × 0.70 |
Perforated silver coin near ear, probably an earring (B1003; IAA 168151; Fig. 4) |
106 |
Medium |
Adult |
|
0.70 × 2.10 |
|
107 |
Good |
Adult |
|
0.85 × 1.70 |
Fig. 5 |
108 |
Poor |
Adult |
|
0.80 × 2.10 |
|
109 |
Poor |
Adult |
|
0.65 × 1.85 |
|
110 |
Exellent |
20–30 |
Female
|
0.80 × 1.85 |
Three iron bracelets on left arm (B1008, B1009); perforated silver coin earrings on left and right ears (B1006, IAA 168159; B1007, IAA 168149; Figs. 6, 7); perforated silver coin near neck, probably pendant (B1010; IAA 168152) |
111 |
Poor |
Adult |
|
0.80 × 1.60 |
|
112 |
None found |
|
|
0.40 × 0.90 |
Small shallow pit; bones, if any, completely deteriorated |
113 |
Medium |
18–30 |
Female |
0.60 × 1.35 |
Legs folded as pit dug was apparently too short |
114 |
Disintegrating |
|
|
0.30 × 1.25 |
Only one cover stone preserved, above the skull; other stones robbed, apparently to cover later burials |
115 |
Exellent |
Adult |
|
1.00× 0.90 |
Stone-lined, without cover stone; deceased lay in folded position with head in west, legs in east, body and face facing north |
116 |
Disintegrating |
Infant or fetus |
|
0.50 × 0.80 |
Tomb of newborn or fetus; only small bone fragments found |
117 |
Good |
8–10 |
|
0.50 × 1.50 |
|
118 |
Very good |
Adult |
|
0.50 × 1.80 |
Only one cover stone preserved, above the skull; other stones apparently robbed to cover later burials |
119 |
Medium |
18–25 |
|
0.70 × 1.80 |
Iron bracelet on left arm (B1004) |
120 |
Good |
Adult |
|
0.50 × 1.40 |
Metal bracelet (B1005) |
The pieces of jewelry discovered in Burials 105 and 110 are perforated silver coins. The coins are dated to the early Ottoman period (sixteenth century CE). All the coins were of a single type, the akçe, a small silver coin weighing less than half a gram. The akçe was the main silver coin of the Ottoman sultans in the sixteenth century. Three of the coins were identified as of Salim II (1566–1574).
The individuals buried in the cemetery were part of a heterogenic population of all ages, from infancy to old age, and both female and male. The variety reflects a regular cemetery in use over time; later burials had cut through earlier ones, and in some of the burials, the cover stones, apart from the one over the head, had been robbed. The deceased in Grave 115, whose head faced north, is exceptional in terms of its orientation. Apart from pottery sherds found on the surface, which may have rolled down the hill and could not be associated with the burials, no pottery was discovered that could date the burials. Nevertheless, the jewelry dates the graves at the earliest to the sixteenth century (terminus post quem). The absence of the notation ‘cem.’ on the 1920s British map (see Fig. 2) indicates that the cemetery was no longer in use by World War I. Thus, the cemetery may have been in use from the late Mamluk period to the Ottoman period (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries CE). This conclusion aligns with the Hartal’s dating for the establishment of the Zuq el-Fauqani village to the late Mamluk or early Ottoman period (sixteenth–seventeenth centuries CE; Hartal 2008).
Conder C.R. and Kitchener H.H. 1881. The Survey of Western Palestine I: Galilee. London.
Guérin V. 1880. Description géographique, historique et archéologique de la Palestine III: Galilée II. Paris.
Livneh M. 1964. A Burial Cave near Kfar Yuval. HA 11:9 (Hebrew).
Metulla Map, 1941, Tel Hai College Maps Archive:
Es-Salihiya 20–28 Compiled, Drawn & Printed by the Survey of Palestine, 1941. Government copyright reserved. Compiled from 1:10,000 Scale Topocadastral Survey 1932. New roads & detail added December 1940.