Rock-cut tomb
Tomb cut into natural rock
- 1 min read
- 3 chapters
Related on Lably
Through Rock-cut architecture, Palestine and Italy
Important examples are found in Egypt, most notably in the town of Deir el-Medina (Seet Maat), located between the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. Other notable clusters include numerous Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel (modern Israel and the Palestinian territories), at Naghsh-e Rostam necropolis in Iran, at Myra in Lycia (today in Turkey), Nabataean tombs in Petra (modern Jordan) and Mada'in Saleh (Saudi Arabia), Sicily (Pantalica) and Larnaca. Indian rock-cut architecture is very extensive, but does not feature tombs.
Chronology
Sign in to keep reading
2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.
Kokh
A kukh (plural: kukhim, Hebrew: כּוּךְ, more often: kokhim), in Latin loculus, plural loculi, is a type of tomb complex characterized by a series of long narrow shafts, in which the deceased were placed for burial, radiating from a central chamber. These tomb complexes were generally carved into a rock face, and were usually closed with a stone slab and had channels cut into the centre of the shaft to drain any water that seeped through the rock.
A kukh complex survives at the far west end of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The church wall runs through the centre of the complex, which means that the entire entrance area has been carved away by the 4th-century church builders. Many more kukh graves can be found throughout the Judean foothills.