The Cemetery of Azor and Early Iron Age Burial Practices

Abstract

A new examination of the results of the excavations by Moshe Dothan at the cemetery of Azor (1958, 1960) is presented, indicating a variability in burial practices in a relatively small area. The different types of burials are discussed as well as the finds from the graves, which date to the late Iron I and Iron IIA. The variability of burial customs is evaluated in relation to the quantity and character of burial goods, and possible cultural, ethnic and socio-economic differences within the population. While other evidence on late Iron I–IIA burial customs is quite limited in the southern Levant, similar phenomena appear in somewhat earlier cemeteries as at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh. Thus, at Azor a continuation of Late Bronze II burial customs may be combined with certain components of Philistine material culture.