Stone Ossuaries in the Hecht Museum Collection and the Issue of Ossuaries Use for Burial
Keywords:
Hecht Museum Collection, Stone Ossuaries, Second Temple periodAbstract
The first part of the article is devoted to the publication of four stone ossuaries in the Hecht Museum collection, thereby joining them to the rich and varied assemblage of stone ossuaries that have been published up to now. The second part of the article relates to the use of stone ossuaries for burial purposes toward the end of the Second Temple period. I present an argument with regard to this issue that has not been advanced to this day: the custom of burial in ossuaries bears a relationship to the Jewish ritual laws (halacha) of uncleanness and purity similar to the affinity between these laws and stone vessels.
References
N. Avigad, Discovering Jerusalem (Nashville 1983)
D. Amit, Manufacture of Stone Vessels in Jerusalem and the Galilee. The Typological, Chronological, and Technological Aspects, Michmanim 22, 2010, 49–66 (Hebrew, English abstract 35*)
D. Amit – J. Zeligman – I. Zilberbod, A Quarry and Workshop for the Production of Stone Vessels on the Eastern Slope of Mount Scopus, Qadmoniot 122, 2001, 102–110 (Hebrew)
J. Baumgarten, The Religious Law of the Qumran Community, Qadmoniot 30, 1997, 97–100 (Hebrew)
J. M. Cahill, The Chalk Assemblages of the Persian / Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods, in: A. de Groot – D. T. Ariel, Excavations at the City of David, 1978–1985, Directed by Yigal Shiloh, 3. Stratigraphical, Environmental, and Other Reports. Qedem 33 (Jerusalem 1992) 190-274.
H. Geva, Stone Artifacts, in: H. Geva (ed.), Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem Conducted by Nahman Avigad, 1969–1982, 4. The Burnt House of Area B and Other Studies (Jerusalem 2006) 154–212
O. Guri-Rimon, Stone Ossuaries in the Hecht Museum Collection and the Issue of Ossuaries Use for Burial, Michmanim 23, 2011, 23–35 (Hebrew, English abstract 48*–49*)
R. Hachlili, Jewish Ornamented Ossuaries of the Late Second Temple Period, Catalogue No. 4, Hecht Museum, University of Haifa (Haifa 1988)
Y. Magen, The Stone Vessel Industry in the Second Temple Period in Jerusalem and a Traditional Workshop in Bethlehem (Tel Aviv 1976) (Hebrew)
Y. Magen, Jerusalem as the Centre for Stone Ware Production in Herodian Times, Qadmoniot 17.4, 1984, 124–127 (Hebrew)
Y. Magen, The Stone Vessel Industry during the Second Temple Period, in: “Purity broke out in Israel” (Tractate Shabbat, 13a) –Stone Vessels in the Late Second Temple Period, Catalogue No. 9, Hecht Museum, University of Haifa (Haifa 1994) 7*–27*
Y. Magen, The Stone Vessel Industry in the Second Temple Period. Excavations at Ḥizma and the Jerusalem Temple Mount. Judea Samaria and Publications 1 (Jerusalem 2002)
P. Kehati, The Mishna Interpreted by Pinchas Kehati (Tel Aviv 1970)(Hebrew)
A. Kloner – B. Zissu, The Necropolis of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period, Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Culture and Religion 8 (Leuven 2007)
E. Regev, The Ritual Baths Near the Temple Mount and Extra-Purification Before Entering the Temple Courts, IEJ 55, 2005, 194–204
L. Y. Rahmani, A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel (Jerusalem 1994)
R. Reich, The Warm Bath House and the Jewish Community in the Early Roman Period (Second Temple Period), in: A. Kasher –U. Rappaport – G. Fuks (eds.), Greece and Rome in Eretz Israel, Collected Essays (Jerusalem 1989) 207–211 (Hebrew)
R. Reich, Miqwa’ot at Khirbet Qumran and the Jerusalem Connection, in: L. H. Schiffman – E. Tov – J. C. VanderKam (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Fifty Years After Their Discovery, Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, 1997 (Jerusalem 2000) 728–731
R. Reich, Stone Scale Weights of the Late Second Temple Period from the Jewish Quarter, in: H. Geva, Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem Conducted by Nahman Avigad, 1969–1982, 3. Area E and Other Studies (Jerusalem 2006) 329–388
T. Shadmi, The Ossuaries and the Sarcophagus, in: G. Avni –Z. Greenhut, The Akeldama Tombs. Three Burial Caves in the Kidron Valley, Jerusalem, IAA Reports 1 (Jerusalem 1996) 41–55
A. Steinsaltz (ed.), BT Tractate Sanhedrin, 2 (Jerusalem 1982)
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Hellenistic Pottery and Material Culture
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
