Burials in Biblical Judah – Society for Biblical Archaeology

Grave goods were found in a burial chamber at En Nasbia, dating to the time of the biblical Judah. Courtesy Budd Museum, Pacific School of Religion.

Although not as monumental as the pyramids of ancient Egypt, tombs and burials are often among the most visible archaeological features of an ancient society. This is no less true for biblical Judah, a society whose burial practices appear both in the archaeological record and in the Hebrew Bible. Writing for the Fall 2025 issue A Review of Biblical ArchaeologyAaron Brody takes readers on a journey through Judaic burial practices in his essay “Ancient Judah’s Grateful Dead.”

Funeral Journey

Many notable ancient burials in the Holy Land – such as the Tomb of the Kings, Salome’s Cave and Herodium – date from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. Although less well known, the many iron tombs (c. 1200–586 BC) have much to tell us about burial practices in biblical Judah. Mostly carved into bedrock or found in natural caves, these tombs typically consisted of a staircase descending into a main chamber that was then connected by side chambers.

In this central chamber there were several stone benches for laying the deceased. Once the body was decomposed, the bones were then placed in a communal repository, usually in a secondary chamber. For the mourners, these tombs may have even resembled a four-room house, a common architectural style for Judaic houses in the Iron Age.

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Beyond tomb architecture, substantial information about burial practices in biblical Judah can be gleaned by using biblical texts, ancient Near Eastern sources, and the many artifacts left behind in tombs. The Iron Age tombs of biblical Judah were typically family tombs that housed several generations. The funeral procession will start from the edge of the city and lead to the unlocked tomb. Once at the tomb, the family would likely remain for seven days, fasting during the day and eating at night. During the mourning period, the family would sleep, eat, and even entertain themselves in the confines of the tomb, surrounded by their loved ones, in a bid to propitiate the souls of the dead.

In many ancient tombs one can find incense juglets, pottery for serving and using food and drink, and many oil lamps. Often, these materials remained in the grave after the burial period, as they were considered contaminated by the men.

To learn more about the burial practices and beliefs of biblical Judah, read Aaron Brody’s article “The Buried Dead of Ancient Judah,” published in the Fall 2025 issue of A Review of Biblical Archaeology.

Customers: Read the full article, “The Grateful Dead of Ancient Judah,” by Aaron Brody, Fall 2025 A Review of Biblical Archaeology.

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