A note on Middle Chalcolithic burial practices: following a survey of Bar Yochai Crevice, Upper Galilee

Extramural mortuary sites are relatively rare in the archaeological record of the 6th and early 5th millennia BCE in thesouthern Levant. Recently, it was shown that large, morphologically complex karstic caves in the Upper Galilee wereused for ritual activities during the Middle Chalcolithic period, that involved the subterranean interment of multipleindividuals. To this emerging body of evidence we suggest adding a small karstic cavity, dubbed ‘Bar Yochai Crevice’,where very fragmentary remains of an adult individual were found alongside a single pottery vessel. The crevice seemsto reflect a small-scale version of the mortuary practices conducted in larger karstic systems of this region, such as thenearby Har Sifsof Cave. Only a few settlement sites from this period are currently known in the eastern Upper Galilee,hence the burial cannot be associated with a specific community. Bar Yochai Crevice offers a unique manifestation of Middle Chalcolithic burial practices, broadening the archaeological record associated with pre-Ghassulian use of thesubterranean sphere