A large, three-room burial cave was discovered in the city of Tiberias, located on the coast of the Sea of Galilee, when a contractor preparing the ground for a new building broke through with his bulldozer. Authorities at the Israel Antiquities Authority were contacted and an initial survey was completed by archaeologists. The main chamber of the Roman-era tomb has several burial niches, and the entrance still has the remains of red, yellow and white paint on the walls. Numerous ossuaries – stone boxes for the secondary burial of bones – were found with Greek inscriptions on them, indicating a father and son were buried there. Despite the Greek inscriptions the tomb is certainly Jewish, as ossuaries were used almost exclusively by Jews from the first century BC to the second century AD. Greek inscriptions have previously been found in numerous ancient Jewish synagogues, including the one in Tiberias. Archaeologists believe the high quality of the burial cave, including the decorations and the Greek inscriptions indicate the tomb belonged to a wealthy family who lived there in the Roman era. In the Bible, people from Tiberias got in their boats and went looking for Jesus after the feeding of the 5000 (John 6:23).
Off-site Links:
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-case-of-the-missing-concrete-how-a-2000-year-old-burial-cave-was-found/
- https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-builders-accidentally-discover-roman-era-jewish-catacomb-in-israel-1.6167799
- https://ferrelljenkins.blog/2018/06/14/tomb-complex-discovered-in-tiberias/
