ABSTRACT
Only two examples of Chalcolithic cemeteries in active karstic systems are known to date: the Peqi’in Cave in the Upper Galilee (Gal et al. 1997, 1999, 2007, 2011) and the Nahal Qanah Cave in the Samarian Mountains (Gopher & Tsuk 1996). Unlike other burial-cave cemeteries that are found fairly close to each other, these two are located almost 100 km apart. While this may be due to a variety of factors (chance of recovery, association with sparsely settled areas, etc.), it may also suggest that these two caves diered along culturally signicant lines as well. is is an issue to which we shall return towards the end of the chapter. First, however, a concise review of both cases will be presented with particular emphasis on the skeletal remains, modes of deposition and the composition of the funerary assemblages. e remainder of the chapter will consider their lines of similarity and dierence.
