Rock Tomb

In Israel, people were buried in rock-cut tombs from the First Temple period (around the eighth century before Christ until 586 BC) until the end of the Second Temple period (first century BC to AD 70).

First Temple Period

Along three walls of the grave chambers, shelves were hewn into the rock. Bodies were laid on these shelves, wrapped in cloth (linen for example) and placed on their backs. A tomb could therefore house several bodies at the same time.
Underneath the shelf on which the body lay, a hole was dug. The bones of older bodies would be stored in there to make room for new bodies.
Many graves found near Jerusalem were beautifully decorated, the paintings and embellishments showing Egyptian and Phoenician influences.
Grave gifts were buried with the body. These gifts included pottery, oil lamps, jewellery, seals and sometimes coins or amulets.

Interim Period

Between the sixth century and the first century BC, few new tombs were put into use. Tombs were for the elite, and after the fall of Jerusalem the majority of the elite had been taken away to Babylonia (Babylonian exile). It was not until the Hasmonean Era (after the first century BC) that rock-hewn tombs were used again around Jerusalem.
In the interim period, people were buried in the ground, but the rock-cut tombs were also re-used.

Second Temple Period

From the first century BC, rock-hewn tombs were again being used, partly under the influence of Hellenism, in which this was a common method of burial. There were a number of notable differences from the tombs from the First Temple period:

the inside of the tombs were increasingly richly decorated;
the entrance became grander and more elaborate. In some places entire structures have been found that were built on top of the tombs;
the dead were no longer placed on shelves along the walls, but in alcoves hewn out of the wall at floor level;
people used special chests (ossuaries) to store bones, instead of in a hole in the ground.