Get into the Grave: Notions of Community Social Identity in a Late 3rd Millennium Site, Derived from an Experimental Carving of a Shaft Tomb at Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel)

Khirbet el-Alia is a large mound, located north-east of Tel Yarmouth, in the Ramat Bet Shemesh region of Israel. An excavation that was conducted north of the mound revealed the remains of a settlement and an adjacent cemetery of shaft graves, dating back to the Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA). The ex...

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Main Authors: Yoav Tsur, Nofar Kahalani, Yithzak Paz, Roi Nickelberg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EXARC 2015-02-01
Series:EXARC Journal
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Online Access:https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10184
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author Yoav Tsur
Nofar Kahalani
Yithzak Paz
Roi Nickelberg
author_facet Yoav Tsur
Nofar Kahalani
Yithzak Paz
Roi Nickelberg
author_sort Yoav Tsur
collection DOAJ
description Khirbet el-Alia is a large mound, located north-east of Tel Yarmouth, in the Ramat Bet Shemesh region of Israel. An excavation that was conducted north of the mound revealed the remains of a settlement and an adjacent cemetery of shaft graves, dating back to the Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA). The excavation yielded important notions on the material culture as well as on symbolic realms, group identity and social differentiation of the settlers in this site. One of the main characteristics that reflected these issues was the variety in the efforts and resources invested in carving the shaft tombs. In order to investigate this phenomenon of conspicuous consumption of human labour and to understand and explain its social implications on late third millennium society, we used experimental archaeology, thus we carved our own shaft grave, documented the work in progress and interpreted its results and the socio-economic implications on this ancient society.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2212-8956
language English
publishDate 2015-02-01
publisher EXARC
record_format Article
series EXARC Journal
spelling doaj-art-bb0d7a197fbf46f2984c755253dc9c012025-08-20T04:02:14ZengEXARCEXARC Journal2212-89562015-02-012015/1ark:/88735/10184Get into the Grave: Notions of Community Social Identity in a Late 3rd Millennium Site, Derived from an Experimental Carving of a Shaft Tomb at Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel)Yoav TsurNofar KahalaniYithzak PazRoi NickelbergKhirbet el-Alia is a large mound, located north-east of Tel Yarmouth, in the Ramat Bet Shemesh region of Israel. An excavation that was conducted north of the mound revealed the remains of a settlement and an adjacent cemetery of shaft graves, dating back to the Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA). The excavation yielded important notions on the material culture as well as on symbolic realms, group identity and social differentiation of the settlers in this site. One of the main characteristics that reflected these issues was the variety in the efforts and resources invested in carving the shaft tombs. In order to investigate this phenomenon of conspicuous consumption of human labour and to understand and explain its social implications on late third millennium society, we used experimental archaeology, thus we carved our own shaft grave, documented the work in progress and interpreted its results and the socio-economic implications on this ancient society.https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10184gravelimestoneconstruction of buildingbronze ageisrael
spellingShingle Yoav Tsur
Nofar Kahalani
Yithzak Paz
Roi Nickelberg
Get into the Grave: Notions of Community Social Identity in a Late 3rd Millennium Site, Derived from an Experimental Carving of a Shaft Tomb at Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel)
EXARC Journal
grave
limestone
construction of building
bronze age
israel
title Get into the Grave: Notions of Community Social Identity in a Late 3rd Millennium Site, Derived from an Experimental Carving of a Shaft Tomb at Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel)
title_full Get into the Grave: Notions of Community Social Identity in a Late 3rd Millennium Site, Derived from an Experimental Carving of a Shaft Tomb at Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel)
title_fullStr Get into the Grave: Notions of Community Social Identity in a Late 3rd Millennium Site, Derived from an Experimental Carving of a Shaft Tomb at Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel)
title_full_unstemmed Get into the Grave: Notions of Community Social Identity in a Late 3rd Millennium Site, Derived from an Experimental Carving of a Shaft Tomb at Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel)
title_short Get into the Grave: Notions of Community Social Identity in a Late 3rd Millennium Site, Derived from an Experimental Carving of a Shaft Tomb at Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel)
title_sort get into the grave notions of community social identity in a late 3rd millennium site derived from an experimental carving of a shaft tomb at ramat bet shemesh israel
topic grave
limestone
construction of building
bronze age
israel
url https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10184
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