Dr. Rafał Koliński/A. Mickiewicz University, Poznań

The vaulted chamber grave constitutes the most elaborate form of graves encountered at Tell Arbid. Graves of this type consist of a rectangular chamber constructed of mud-bricks and a shaft located on the same side as the entrance to the chamber.

Orientation. The grave pits of the chamber graves at Tell Arbid were oriented East-West, both in Sector P and in the other sectors. The only exception was GP 34 which was oriented North-South. Due to this orientation and the fact that the grave was located just beneath the surface of the site, I dated it to the OJZ III period since all the graves dated to OJZ I-II have a consistent East-West orientation. However, it seems that there was no rule concerning the position of the entrance to the chamber (and of the entrance shaft). Two of the three vaulted chamber graves have entrances on the western (GP 06 and GP 07) and the third on the eastern side (GP 26). Variation in this respect has been observed on the whole Tell Arbid site.

Pit. The grave pit is usually up to 3.5 m long, 2.0 to 2.5 m wide and over 2.0 m deep. The chamber is aligned with one of the shorter walls of the pit, leaving a space for the communication shaft on the opposite side. 

Chamber. The construction of the chamber started with the raising of two parallel walls built of whole bricks placed along the longer walls of the grave pit. The lower courses of bricks (up to the 6^th-8^thcourse) were laid horizontally or slightly sloping internally, while the upper ones were placed radially forming the span of the vault. The vault, with only one exception, was constructed of regular bricks bound with clay mortar on a wooden or earthen scaffolding. The span of the vault was between 1.07 and 0.76 m. In the case of GP 07, an additional layer of flat-laid bricks was placed over the arch to make it more resilient. The height of the chamber was between 1.5 and 1.2 m (it could not be measured in the case of GP 34). When the vault was ready, one of the shorter sidesof the chamber, usually the one facing the wall of the shaft, was blocked with bricks set on mortar. The other shorter wall was made of bricks set without mortar and was constructed only after the first (and every subsequent) burial. The last step in the construction was the building of a mud-brick wall over the entrance to the chamber which reached the surface (or, possibly, protruded above the ground). It had three purposes: firstly, it separated the shaft from the remaining part of the pit, which was then filled with earth; secondly, it marked the position of the grave on the surface, making it possible to re-excavate the shaft when another body needed to be placed in the chamber; and thirdly, it protected the shaft, when excavated, from a soil slide. If the wall formed a low bench on the ground, it could have been used for depositing offerings to dead ancestors (kispum).

Usage of the grave. The vaulted chamber graves were meant to accommodate a number of subsequent burials of persons belonging most likely to the same family. The richest one, GP 26, contained skeletons of 14 individuals, including children; the rest of the graves contained one to three skeletons. These subsequent burials were possible because the vault was resilient, and the blocked entrance prevented earth from filling the chamber. In order to make another burial, it was necessary to excavate the entrance shaft (in some cases, the entire shaft was cleared of earth; in others, only a narrow shaft corresponding to the entrance to the chamber was cleared). After clearing the shaft, the bricks blocking the entrance to the chamber were removed, and the place for the new deceased was prepared by pushing old bones and offerings towards the far end of the chamber (evidenced in all the vaulted chamber graves where more than one skeleton was found). After the burial, the entrance to the chamber was blocked again, and the shaft filled with earth. Probably on one of such occasions some pottery vessels were deposited in the shaft of GP 26 at various levels of the fill. The same grave yielded evidence of what may be interpreted as “a ritual closure” of the grave, where a dead dog was placed in the upper part of its fill, “blocking” the shaft.

Labour requirements. The construction of a vaulted chamber grave required a considerable amount of labour. Fifteen cubic meters of soil had to be dug up to form the grave pit, and more than 200 bricks were needed to build the grave chamber and the retention wall. Later, about half of the excavated soil needed to be dumped back into the pit, either over the chamber or, after the burial, into the shaft. The advantage was that the grave could be used multiple times; 14 skeletons found in GP 26 suggest a period of use corresponding to two generations or longer.

Looting. The vaulted chamber graves GP 06 and GP 07 were looted in antiquity. A rounded shaft was dug over the chamber, and the vault was broken to gain access to the chamber. Grave GP 26 escaped looting only by accident; a robber’s shaft reached the grave but in its peripheric area, over the side wall. It may be that looting of the chamber graves was possible because of the “marker” walls still visible on the surface.

Grave list: GP 06, GP 07, GP 26 – OJZ II, GP 34 – OJZ III.

Chamber graves with a “diamond” vault constituted a smaller and less expensive variant of the vaulted chamber graves. Occasionally, they were provided with the entrance shaft and the retention wall over the opening of the chamber; in these two cases, there is evidence of multiple burials in the chamber.

Orientation. The chamber graves with a “diamond” vault have exactly the same orientation as the vaulted chamber graves. Although all pits are dug along the East-West axis, a small variation in orientation can be observed. Where the position of the entrance to the chamber could be determined, it revealed no rule, just like in the case of the vaulted chamber graves. Two graves with evidence of subsequent burials have shafts either on the eastern (GP 32) or on the western (GP 10) side. 

Pit. Typically, the dimensions of the grave pit corresponded to the dimensions of the grave chamber, being less than 2.15 m in length and less than 1.3 m in width. In the case of the graves provided with a shaft (GP 10, GP 32), its length was 2.15 and 2.60 m respectively. The width of the pit (and of the chamber) varied depending on the variant of the roofing used (cf. below). The depth of the pit is difficult to determine; it seems that the pit of GP 32 was the deepest, reaching at least 1.5 m below the surface.

Chamber. As in the case of the vaulted chamber graves, the construction of the chamber graves with a “diamond” vault started with two parallel walls of mud-bricks, usually 4 to 7 courses of bricks high. In most cases, no walls on the shorter sides were built (the only exceptions being graves of wider dimensions, such as GP 05 and GP 32, but also the smallest grave of this group, GP 02). The next step depended on the variant of the roofing chosen. The most typical solution was to set a row of square bricks vertically over the gap between parallel walls in such a way that opposite corners of each brick rested on opposite walls of the grave (thus resembling a diamond). This kind of ceiling had three disadvantages. Firstly, the span of the side walls was limited by the dimensions of the bricks used for the ceiling (0.5-0.45 m in the case of bricks with sides 0.4 m long, 0.45-0.4 m for the 0.36 m bricks, 0.40-0.35 m for the 0.32 m bricks). Secondly, due to the protruding lower corners of the bricks, the space underneath them could not be higher than 30 cm and was thus inaccessible. Thirdly, it seems that under the pressure of the earth filling the shaft of the grave, the corners of the bricks cracked relatively quickly. Thus, in most of the graves (the only exception being the tiny GP 02), the bricks were found inside the chamber, lying directly over the bones of the deceased person, which suggests that the ceiling had collapsed before the chamber was filled with earth. It seems plausible that in the case of the graves with a single “diamond” roof, the ceiling was constructed after the funeral, and there was no possibility of using the same grave for subsequent burials. The other variant, much less popular, required the ceiling to be constructed of three parallel rows of bricks set like a “diamond”. The opposite corners of bricks forming the two lower rows rested on opposite side walls, while the middle row, resting on the two lower ones, locked them in the desired position. Two graves in Sector P which featured this kind of ceiling (GP 05 and GP 10) were considerably wider than the other graves of this group because the ceiling of three rows of bricks doubled the span of the ceiling (compared to the “diamond” ceiling of one row of bricks). GP 10 yielded evidence of multiple burials (two skeletons and a shaft on the western side of the chamber). With walls constructed of seven courses of bricks, the height of the chamber was about 0.45 m, which made it possible to use the same practice as in the vaulted chamber graves, i.e. push earlier remains towards the far end of the chamber. The last grave of this group, GP 32, is also the biggest. The way in which its ceiling was constructed is not clear. A single row of bricks set like a “diamond” was found inside the chamber, but because the chamber’s inner width was 0.95 m they would have needed additional support to form the roof. It is hypothesized that obliquely set bricks were used as a support for the bricks set like a “diamond”; only in this way, the 0.95-m-wide chamber could have been spanned without a vault and with a row of bricks set like a “diamond” in the middle. As the chamber was originally over 0.5 m high, making subsequent burials was possible through a shaft located to the east of the chamber, as evidenced by the presence of four skeletons. In these cases, there is no doubt that the roofing was constructed on a scaffolding before the first funeral.

Usage of the grave. It seems that most of the chamber graves with a “diamond” vault were used for single inhumations of adults, typically buried with modest burial gifts but often accompanied by a meat offering. The only exception to this rule is GP 02. For some reason, a 3-year-old child was buried there, in a very small chamber grave, and with a meat offering, thus in a way typical of an adult. However, there are larger graves in evidence as well, with a more elaborate form of the ceiling, which could have been used for subsequent burials (GP 10, GP 32). Both were provided with a side shaft, and the latter also with a wall rising over the entrance gate, exactly as in the case of the vaulted chamber graves. 

Labour requirements. Chamber graves with a “diamond” vault were smaller and required less labour than the vaulted chamber graves. In the case of graves with a single row of bricks forming the ceiling, about 4 cubic meters of earth needed to be excavated, and the chamber could be built with 100-120 bricks. Graves with more elaborate roofing required excavating up to 8.5 cubic meters of soil and using about 150 bricks but could be used for subsequent burials. 

Looting. None of the chamber graves with a “diamond” vault were affected by looting.

Grave list: A – combined roof: GP 32; B – triple “diamond” ceiling: GP 05, GP 10; single “diamond” ceiling: GP 02, GP 12, GP 13, GP 18, GP 19.

Shaft graves were much simpler and easier to prepare than the two types of graves described above. Typically, they were used for child burials with a pottery vessel as the burial container. The shaft grave was composed of a shaft and a niche cut into one of its walls. In the niche, the burial container was placed, sometimes protruding into the shaft. The niche could be closed with mud-bricks. Otherwise, the mouth of the burial vessel was closed with one or more bricks.

Orientation. Nearly all of the shaft graves have a round or square shaft. Consequently, there is no orientation to speak of. However, the sides of the rectangular shafts seem to be aligned in cardinal directions. As for the location of the burial container, there is no instance of it being deposited in a niche cut into the northern wall of the shaft; the other three sides were used equally often.

Pit. As was already mentioned, the grave shafts were either round or square, with a maximum diameter of 0.55 to 0.9 m in the single case of a round shaft, and maximum side measurement of 0.7 to 1.15 m in the case of the square shafts. The depth of the shafts is difficult to determine, but they do not seem to be deeper than 1.0 m.

Niche. The length of the niche cut into one of the walls usually corresponded to the width of the shaft, and it seems that its depth and height were the same since the vessel deposited in the niche was placed on its side. In some cases, the burial vessel was pushed into the niche so that its mouth was blocked by the side wall. This suggests that the body (and accompanying burial gifts) were put inside the vessel before it was placed in the niche. In the cases where the mouth of the vessel was not closed in that way, it was blocked either with one vertical brick or with a few bricks and brick fragments. If the base of the vessel was broken or incomplete, it was blocked with bricks as well. In one case (GP 22), there is evidence that the niche containing the vessel was separated from the shaft with a low wall made of four courses of irregular, large brick fragments.

Usage of the grave. The shaft graves were used for one burial and were never reopened. However, the remains of four skeletons of children aged from 1 to 5 years which have been found in GP 22 demonstrate that occasionally multiple burials were deposited in graves of this type. One may wonder whether this multiple burial was not the consequence of several children dying in a short period of time. The cause of such deaths can be only speculated upon: plague, accident, war?

Labour requirements. Not much labour was needed for the preparation of a shaft grave. Digging a shaft with a side niche required the removal of 1.5 cubic meters of soil at most. Storage jars were usually used as burial containers (in one case, a bucket-shaped pot served that purpose, and in another, a Kitchen Ware pot), sometimes bearing clear traces of damage before deposition. Occasionally, a whole brick was used to close the vessel or the niche, but in several cases, large brick fragments were clearly reused for this purpose. There is no doubt that graves of this type were prepared ad hocwhen the need for burying a child occurred.

Looting. No shaft grave showed evidence of looting.

Grave list: round shaft – GP  04, square shafts – GP 21, GP 22, GP 23, GP 27, GP 28, GP 57.