2,500-Year-Old Tombs Discovered in Negev Desert

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL—Live Science reports that a team of archaeologists led by Martin Pasternak of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) found at least 50 skeletons in two square-shaped tombs positioned on an ancient crossroads in southern Israel’s Negev Desert during an investigation conducted ahead of the construction of a water pipeline. The skeletal remains are thought to be about 2,500 years old, and may have been deposited in the tombs over a long period of time, since some of them appear to have been moved. “These kinds of tombs have never been discovered in the region until now and they are not associated with any kind of settlement,” said IAA research team member Tali Erickson-Gini. Artifacts in the tomb have been traced to the southern Levant, southern Arabia, and Egypt, and have been dated from the seventh century to the fifth century B.C. Many of these objects, such as copper-alloy and iron jewelry, ceramic vases, amulets, and Cypraea shells from the Red Sea, are usually associated with women. Ancient texts, including Minaean inscriptions from Yemen, have recorded the practice in this region of trafficking women for ritual prostitution. The researchers think these women may have been purchased in Gaza or Egypt and perhaps died on the trip to Arabia, where they would have been sold as brides or sacred prostitutes. To read about Islamic-era buildings uncovered in the Negev, go to "Side by Side."