Courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority

The narrow side of a second ossuary from the burial cave also bears the name “Qafa’.” The spelling of “Qafa’” here agrees with the simplified spelling of the single-line inscription on the first ossuary.

The crude lettering on this and the other inscriptions contrasts with the high quality of decoration on the ossuaries. The names were not meant for public viewing; they indicated whose remains were in which ossuary and may have been incised by one of the deceased’s relatives rather than by skilled workmen.