Several graves cut into the soft rock were discovered west of the structure
and at its northern part. Another rock-cut tomb was found beneath the floor of the central room (see above). These tombs were robbed in the past years and were partially destroyed. Tombs C1, C2, C3, and C5 have deep shafts of square section (1.5 m on a side), and a burial chamber measuring 2 sq. m.
Tomb C1 was sealed with stone slabs – the accepted means of closing-
off this type of tomb. Tombs C4 and C6 have deep shafts of over 2 m on a
side, from which narrow passage-ways branch off. In these are small burial troughs lined with rectangular stone plates.
In the third construction phase, the burials area was encompassed with
a wall (see above) in part built over the voids of Tombs C3, C4, and C6,
but leaving their openings unencumbered. Between the wall and the structure were perpendicular walls forming cell-like spaces.
Tomb 7 (C7; crypt) is cut into the soft rock beneath Wall
50 of the structure. Two rock-cut flights of stairs – one to the west and
the other on the east – descend to the courtyard (1.5 x1 m) at its facade
– north of the tomb chamber and Wall 50. Supporting walls were built
around the courtyard and the staircases. Three crosses are carved in the
lintel of the facade. The jambs and sill have recessed edges indicating
that the opening was closed with a square stone slab. In the burial hall
are four troughs, 30-50 cm deep, in which human skeletal remains were
found. This, as the other tombs, was robbed recently and the skeletal material was disturbed.
The estimates put the number of skeletons at least at six. The skeletons were buried as soon as they were discovered and thus could not be subjecte to anthropological examination The relationship of the structure and the installations to the tombs indicates that already in the first construction phase the builders took the existing tombs into account. Possibly, a hole in one of the covering slabs of Tomb C1 was left exposed to permit the tomb to be reopened as required.
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