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© TSAFRIR ABAYOV/COURTESY OF THE LEON LEVY EXPEDITION TO ASHKELON

ASHKELON’S CEMETERY is the first extensive burial ground found at a Philistine city. Archaeologists uncovered more than 210 burials in the cemetery—located outside the ancient city and used from the eleventh to eighth centuries B.C.E. In the photo here, three separate burials are visible. The central individual was buried in the ninth century; analysis shows that this individual was an adult male. Grave goods, including two storage jars, a bowl, and a juglet, accompany the burial. These goods may have been meant to provide for the individual in the afterlife.