Parthian burial pratices revealed

I’ve found this archaeological find to be quite interesting. As you probably know, L. Rahmani (CJO, p. 56) disagrees with E. Meyers (Jewish ossuaries: Burial and rebirth, 1971, pp. 17-36) about his hypothesis that the concept of ossilegium in bone boxes (ossuaries) was brought to Jerusalem from the nearby Iran. Well, this archaeological find may prove Meyers was right.

Archeologists have reportedly accomplished 70 percent of the excavations in Nakhl-e Ebrahim Cemetery located in Iran's southern province of Hormozgan.

“The preliminary phase of archeological excavations in Nakhl-e Ebrahim Cemetery unraveled the mystery of Parthian burial methods,'' said Abbas Norouzi, the cultural heritage deputy of Hormozgan Province.

Archeological finds have revealed that the Parthians performed jar burials and that the site was one of the biggest ports of its time.

Well, it looks like ossilegium. But, I’ll wait for a detailed report in order to write something more reasonable.

Rahmani ha sempre osteggiato l’ipotesi di Meyers che il concetto di l’ossilegium in ossari fosse stato portato a Gerusalemme dal vicino Iran. Questa scoperta archeologica, però, sembra provare la bontà della tesi di Meyers. Anche se, prima di valutare compiutamente, occorrerà aspettare un rapporto ufficiali sugli scavi.

martedì 26 febbraio 2008