Samaritan Cemeteries and Tombs in the Central Coastal Plain: Archaeology and History of the Samaritan Settlement outside Samaria (ca. 300–700 CE)

This book discusses the Samaritan grave customs outside of Samaria based on previously unpublished graves. These tombs were discovered in the central coastal area of Israel in the second half of the 20th century. They are located in an area on the northern outskirts of Tel Aviv, which belongs to the southern Sharon level. The sites analyzed here include the burial ground of Khirbet al-'Aura / Tel Barukh, a burial cave in Khirbet al-Hadra / HaGolan Street and another one in Tell Qasile. Because of their location and the findings they have made, these burial caves are connected to the Samaritan rural population. The finds consist of both non-epigraphic and epigraphic material. This investigation is the full excavation report of the graves and also a reassessment of Sarmatian settlement history and material culture. On the one hand, the appendices in the book complete the investigation by presenting unpublished, smaller excavations, which were presumably Samaritan settlements, and on the other hand correct material that has already been published and is relevant to this topic. This reassessment is holistic because it includes the new and the Samartite sites in the central coastal plain, which have already been known from excavations or surveys. This study contributes to our understanding of the everyday life and belief of the Samaritans outside their core country during the heyday of expansion into the Palestinian lowlands.