The Intermediate Bronze Age Cemetery at Khirbat el-‘Alya North—Some Cultural, Social and Phenomenological Aspects

Khirbat el-‘Alya is one of the major mounds in the Ramat Bet Shemesh region (Fig. 1). It is located about 1 km northeast of Tel Yarmut and north of Naḥal Yarmut. The site and its immediate vicinity were extensively surveyed by Y. Dagan and other scholars, and excavations were conducted east and west of our newly excavated area (Dagan and Mettens 1998; Dagan 2010:156–157). The area immediately north of Khirbat el-‘Alya (Khirbat el-‘Alya North, henceforth KAN) is characterized by a wide limestone shelf that descends rather sharply north toward Naḥal Yimla. The bedrock is highly uneven and characterized by