Analysis suggests Herod built the Heroon-temenos at the start of his reign, indicating its significance in burial customs.
Researchers estimated that the complex built above the Cave of the Patriarchs was built by Herod. A new carbon-14 date reinforces this opinion. The complex was built over a cave, seemingly a natural karst void, possibly modified by humans, traditionally associated with the burial Cave, where Judaism's Patriarchs and Matriarchs are interred - defining the compound as a Heroon, enclosed by a "temenos". A concealed burial loculus meant for a single ossuary was discovered in the system below the floor of the temenos. Considering all the data, we would like to suggest that the Heroon-temenos was built at the beginning of Herod's reign and the individual burial loculus was set apart for Herod himself before he opted for burial in Herodium.
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Cochva et al. (2025) studied this question.
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