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Courtesy of the Semitic Museum, Harvard University

CISTERN OR TOMB? A site plan from the Harvard excavation in the early 20th century identifies the square installation beneath the court of Omri’s palace as Cistern 7 (the thick black lines represent the walls of the Omride palace). However, a section drawing from the same Harvard excavation refers to it as “Rock tomb 7.” Was Cistern/Tomb 7 the same thing, or two different things? Did the Harvard excavation papers simply call this single feature by different names? Or were there two nearly identical square subterranean chambers?