A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a type of
rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go downward in fairly flat ground. It was a common form of burial for the wealthy in ancient times in several parts of the world.
Important examples are found in
Egypt, most notably in the town of
Deir el-Medina (Seet Maat), located between the
Valley of the Kings and the
Valley of the Queens. Other notable clusters include numerous
rock-cut tombs in modern
Israel, at
Naghsh-e Rostam
Naqsh-e Rostam ( lit. mural of Rostam, fa, نقش رستم ) is an ancient archeological site and necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran. A collection of ancient Iranian rock reliefs are cut into th ...
necropolis in
Iran, at
Myra in
Turkey,
Petra in modern
Jordan,
Mada'in Saleh in
Saudi Arabia,
Sicily (
Pantalica
The Necropolis of Pantalica is a collection of cemeteries with rock-cut chamber tombs in southeast Sicily, Italy. Dating from the 13th to the 7th centuries BC, there was thought to be over 5,000 tombs, although the most recent estimate suggests a ...
) and
Larnaca
Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 14 ...
.
Indian rock-cut architecture
Indian rock-cut architecture is more various and found in greater abundance in that country than any other form of rock-cut architecture around the world. Rock-cut architecture is the practice of creating a structure by carving it out of solid na ...
is very extensive, but does not feature tombs.
Chronology
* Egyptian rock-cut tombs (1450 BCE,
Thebes,
Egypt).
*
Phrygian rock-cut tombs such as the
Midas monument
Midas (; grc-gre, Μίδας) was the name of a king in Phrygia with whom several myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house.
The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ...
(700 BCE).
*
Etruscan rock-cut tombs,
Etruria,
Italy (500 BCE).
* Tomb of
Darius I (
Naqsh-e Rostam (480 BCE).
*
Lycian rock-cut tombs (4th century BCE).
*
Petra,
Jordan (100 CE).
Kokh
A ''kokh'' (plural: kokhim, he, כּוּךְ), in
Latin ''loculus'', plural ''loculi'', is a type of
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...
complex characterized by a series of long narrow shafts, in which the
deceased
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
were placed for
burial
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
, radiating from a central chamber. These tomb complexes were generally carved into a rock face, and were usually closed with a stone slab and had channels cut into the centre of the shaft to drain any water that seeped through the rock.
A ''kokhim'' complex survives at the far west end of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
in
Jerusalem. The church wall runs through the centre of the complex, which means that the entire entrance area has been carved away by the 4th-century church builders. Many more ''kokh'' graves can be found throughout the
Judean foothills
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sout ...
.
Examples
File:Gerdek Rock Tomb front detail, Hellenistic period, 2nd century BC, district of Çorum, Turkey.jpg, Gerdek Rock Tomb, Hellenistic period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
, 2nd century BCE, Çorum
Çorum () (Medieval Greek: Ευχάνεια, romanized: Euchaneia) is a northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximately from A ...
, Turkey
File:Tomba a dado necropoli della casetta blera.jpg, Etruscan rock-cut tomb in Blera
Blera is a small town and ''comune'' in the northern Lazio region of Italy. It was known during the Middle Ages as Bieda, an evolved form of its ancient name, which was restored in the twentieth century. It is the birthplace of Pope Sabinian; Po ...
, Italy
File:Myra Rock Tombs.jpg, Rock-cut tombs in Myra
File:Petra Jordan BW 21.JPG, ''Al Khazneh
Al-Khazneh ( ar, الخزنة; "The Treasury") is one of the most elaborate temples in Petra, a city of the Nabatean Kingdom inhabited by the Arabs in ancient times. As with most of the other buildings in this ancient town, including the Monaste ...
'' or the Treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or ...
at Petra
File:Tomb of Avshalom in the Kidron Valley;.jpg, Tomb of Absalom
The Tomb of Absalom (), also called Absalom's Pillar, is an ancient monumental rock-cut tomb with a conical roof located in the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem, a few metres from the Tomb of Zechariah and the Tomb of Benei Hezir. Although traditional ...
in Jerusalem
File:Qasr al Farid.JPG, Qasr al-Farid, tomb in the archeological site of Mada'in Saleh, Al-'Ula
Al-'Ula ( ar, ٱلْعُلَا '), is a city of the Medina Region in north-western Saudi Arabia. Historically located on the incense route, the city lies within the Governorate of 'Ula ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ٱلْعُلَا, Muḥāfathat A ...
, Hejaz, Saudi Arabia (1st century CE)
File:Naqsh-e Rustam 6.jpg, Tomb of Darius the Great, part of the ancient Naqsh-e Rostam Necropolis, Iran
File:Rock-cut tombs in Horvat Geres (Jurish).jpg, ''Kokhim'': sepulchres (burial shafts) in Israel
See also
*
Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel
References
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