Resumen de Evidence for a separate burial ground at the submerged Pottery Neolithic site of Neve-Yam, Israel
Ehud Galili, V. Eshed, B. Rosen, M.E. Kislev, O. Simchoni, I. Hershkovitz, A. Ghoper
Salvage excavations and surveys at Neve-Yam, a submerged Pottery-Neolithic (PN) Wadi Rabah settlement (second half of the 8th millennium cal. BP) off the Carmel coast revealed unique stone-built graves. They were concentrated in a specific and separate section of the site devoted to burial and associated activities. There were no dwellings in this burial area and no graves were found in the occupation area. The oval graves, oriented in an east-west direction, were built of undressed stones and some were covered by stone slabs. This is an early example for a clear division between a dwelling zone and a burial ground with stone-built graves in a Neolithic settlement. Three concentrations of charred seeds in the burial area are possibly associated with ritual activities. The separation of the living from the dead in this late PN site is notably different from earlier PN and Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) burial practices and should be considered in light of the later Chalcolithic Ghassulian (starting in middle 7th millennium cal. BP) appearance of formal off-site cemeteries
