By the first century C.E., Jerusalem was surrounded by a necropolis of rock-cut tombs.

These tombs are characterized by the following features:

1. The rock-cut tombs are artificially hewn, underground caves cut into the bedrock slopes around Jerusalem.

2. With few exceptions, the tombs were located outside the walls of the city.

3. Each tomb was used by a family over the course of several generations, as reflected by the biblical expression “he slept with [or was gathered to] his fathers” (for example Judges 2:10; 2 Chronicles 32:33; 2 Chronicles 33:20; 2 Chronicles 34:28).

4. When a member of the family died, the body was wrapped in a shroud and sometimes placed in a coffin, and was then laid in the tomb as an individual inhumation, even if the bones were later collected and placed elsewhere.

5. Because of the expense associated with hewing a burial cave into bedrock, only the wealthier members of Jerusalem's population – the upper classes – could afford rock-cut tombs. The lower classes apparently disposed of their dead in a manner that has left fewer traces in the archaeological record – for example, in individual trench graves or cist graves dug into the ground.

6. From the earliest periods, the layout and decoration of Jerusalem's rock-cut tombs exhibited foreign cultural influences and fashions. Evidence for such influence – and indeed, for the use of rock-cut tombs – is attested only in times when Jerusalem's Jewish elite enjoyed an autonomous or semi-autonomous status; that is, in the late First Temple period (late Iron Age) and the late Second Temple period (Herodian period). During these periods the Jerusalem elite adopted foreign fashions that were introduced by the rulers or governing authorities. We begin with a brief review of rock-cut tombs in the late Iron Age.