Chamber Tombs Database


About database

The development of the internet database which will fulfil the role of a catalogue of chamber tombs is supposed to enable other scholars to verify my hypotheses formulated on the basis of the source material presented therein. The creation of an Internet database of chamber tombs as part of the project will allow other scholars to investigate different problems connected with this type of monument.

The database contains basic qualitative data about chamber tombs discovered in the territories of ancient Syro-Palestine. It takes into account the tombs used from the Iron Age to the Early Islamic period. The database contains published tombs with a specific chronology. I do not have the means to continuously update the data. However, I will try to add new materials or make important corrections, basing on your emails (mariusz.gwiazda (at) gmail.com). This database was created thanks to the publications of hundreds of scientists, I hope that they has been recorded fully and correctly. If you are unhappy with the way I used your materials, please contact me.

I suggest to quote individual entries to the database in publications as follows:

M. Gwiazda, Chamber Tombs Database ( https://chambertombs.uw.edu.pl/details?type=chamber%20tombs&id=1 ), ChT-„Inventory Number”

The Project is financed by the National Science Centre (UMO-2016/21/N/HS3/00040).

Inventory number

Inventory number assigned arbitrary and automatically by the system. It is determined only by the order of cataloging tombs.

Tomb name

The column contains information about name / names under which the tomb is mentioned in publications. These may be common names as well as inventory numbers given by other researchers.

Site name

The contemporary name of the place where the tomb was discovered is given first. In brackets, the ancient names of these settlements are given.

Country

This item contains information about the name of the contemporary country in which the tomb has been discovered.

Map

On the map the approximate location of the tomb is marked.

Dating

The item contains the dating of the foundation and the time of use of the tomb.

The minimum capacity

It is a numerical information about the number of loculi, arcosolia etc., which were intended for burials. When the tomb does not have such places designated for deposition of bodies, the number 1 is recorded as the minimum number of potential burials.

The minimum number of burials

This is information about the minimum number of identified burials in a given tomb.

Number of chambers

This item contains the minimum number of chambers in the tomb The basic assumption is that each tomb has at least one chamber.

Form of the tomb

This item contains a simplified classification of tombs. Here featured:

  1. "Caves", natural hollows in rocks, have not been transformed or transformed in a very limited way in order to be used as a place of burials.
  2. The "mausoleum". Understood as a tomb built on aboveground.
  3. "Pit" is a tomb with a chamber carved in the rock or dug in the ground, accessible only through shaft.
  4. "Rock cut tomb " is at least one burial chamber carved in a rock. In some cases, such objects have built elements (e.g. entrance)
  5. "Built hypogeum" is understood as an underground tomb, the greater part of which was built and not carved in the rock.
  6. "Tower" is a form of a mausoleum with burial chambers located on several levels.
  7. "Tumulus" is a burial chamber covered with a conical shaped mound.

Form of burial place

In this column there is a classification of burial sites, which consists of: acrosolia, bench, loculi, pit, repository, trough.

Type of construction

This is information about whether the tomb was carved in the rock or whether it was built. It is also possible to combine these two forms within one tomb.

Rite

This is information about what kind of burial practices are certified in the tomb. Three basic forms can be distinguished here: cremation; inhumation; repositioning.

Facade

This point contains information about whether the tomb has a decorated façade

Internal decorations

Here, the presence of decorations inside the tomb is noted. They can be paintings, reliefs (including sculptures) and mosaics.

Inscriptions

This item contains information about the presence of the inscription, on the façade or inside the tomb. They can be engraved or painted on the walls of the tomb or on its equipment (e.g. ossuaries).

Equipment

This category includes objects related to the way of burial. They can be coffins from clay, lead, wood, ossuaries, and stone sarcophaguses.

Context

In this place there is information on the context in which the tomb was discovered. Is the necropolis, on which it was discovered, associated with the city or the village. Separately treated are crypts built within monasteries or in churches.

Sepulchral equipment

This section includes only information on archaeologically certified objects found inside the tombs. Lack of certification of specific groups of objects results more from the preservation state (skin, wood) or the fact that tombs are often robbed.

Bibliography

Bibliographic references in most cases are limited to the latest publications, where you can also find references to older items.