Triple-arched tomb entrance. Hewn out of a rock face at Beth She’arim, in Lower Galilee, this elaborate facade frames passageways leading to a series of burial chambers. The vast necropolis dates from the second century A.D. Israeli archaeologist Benjamin Mazar excavated Beth She’arim intermittently from 1936 to 1959, giving his countrymen—like this group of schoolchildren inspecting the site in 1956—another glimpse of the ancient history of their land.