New EB IV Stone-Built Cist Burials from Sir Flinders Petrie’s Excavations at Tell el-‘Ajjul

During the final centuries of the 3rd millennium BCE (Early Bronze Age IV) a new burial form, the stone-built cist-grave, appears in the southern Levant. This burial type is believed to have its origins in the northern Levant, along the Euphrates. Until recently, only a few examples of this burial tradition were known in the southern
Levant, with most examples identified in either the Jordan Valley or along the Wadi Zerqa. However, analysis of Petrie’s tomb records from Tell el-‘Ajjul revealed a number of new examples of this burial type, shedding new light upon this enigmatic burial tradition in the southern Levant and the closing stages of the 3rd millennium
BCE.