A modified landscape as a likely arena of social differentiation and identity at a late third millennium BC cemetery, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel

Test excavations conducted in 2011, north of the ancient Khirbet el-Alia mound in the Ramat Bet Shemesh region of central Israel, revealed the remains of an Intermediate Bronze Age settlement and a related shaft tomb complex. Albeit very limited in scope, the excavation yielded suggestive information pertaining to the worldview of the site's occupants. The placement and layout of rock-cut features in the cemetery hint at the incorporation of pre-existing natural features. Social stratification could be reflected by the spatial relationship between the cemetery with the neighboring settlement and mound.