Strata: The Other Ossuaries

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Most BAR readers know what ossuaries are because they have been featured so much in recent years, ever since the ossuary inscribed “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” burst forth in the magazine’s pages.^b The bones of the deceased were placed in limestone boxes, or ossuaries, about a year after death, when the flesh had fallen away. These ossuaries have been found mainly in the Jerusalem area and date from about 20 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.

In only one other time period were ossuaries widely used: the Chalcolithic period. Predating the Jerusalem 013ossuaries by about 4,000 years, these other ossuaries have absolutely no connection—other than basic function—with the ones we are accustomed to seeing in these pages.

Makes you wonder whether a common impulse led these two peoples living 4,000 years apart to perform secondary burials in ossuaries.