121
2009
 Journal 121


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Kafr Kanna (East)
Final Report

 Amir Ganor  and Sa‘ar  Ganor 
30/6/2009


1. Burial cave, plan and sections.  


2. Western wall of burial cave, looking west.  


3. Clay juglet.  



 

 
During January 2002, a burial cave was documented at Jebel Hawaha (East), in Kafr Qanna (map ref. NIG 23335/73900; OIG 18335/23900), in the wake of looting antiquities. The documentation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, was conducted by inspectors of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery, with the assistance of Y. Moshe, C. Amit (photography), O. Shorr (glass restoration) and C. Hersch (drawing).
The burial cave (4.8 × 6.4 m; Fig. 1) was hewn in soft chalk rock on the northern slope of a hill. Several burial caves had previously been exposed in this area (ESI 7-8:107–108). The entrance to the cave had been damaged by mechanical equipment. The cave consisted of a burial chamber in which seven kokhim (average size 0.7 × 2.0 m, height c. 1.0 m) were installed, five of which were in the western wall (Fig. 2). One of the five was hewn 0.4 m higher than the other four and a bone repository (1 × 1 m) was located in its rear part. Two kokhim were cut in the southern wall. The artifacts from the cave were plundered, but rediscovered, with a search order, in the house of the looters. The finds comprised an intact clay juglet (Fig. 3), a bronze knife (Fig. 4) and several glass vessels, including two intact bottles that have indented decoration, which resembles a quarto-petaled flower and a long cylindrical neck with a folded-in rim (Fig. 5:1, 2), a small and intact lentoid flask (Fig. 5:3), two bottles, one has a cylindrical body and the other—globular (Fig. 5:4, 5) and the rim of another bottle (Fig. 5:6). This glass assemblage is similar to vessels found in a burial cave at Kafer Kama (‘Atiqot 56:113–118 [Hebrew]), which were dated to the third century CE and thought to have been of local production. The clay juglet and the glass vessels date the cave to the second–third centuries CE.


To view the figures, click on the figure caption



   1. Burial cave, plan and sections.


   2. Western wall of burial cave, looking west.


   3. Clay juglet.


   4. Bronze knife.


   5. Glass vessels.

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