The undisturbed tombs contained both articulated and commingled skeletons, suggesting occasional reuse of the tombs. Many of these graves likewise held a substantial quantity of ceramic artifacts, wooden coffins and jewelry. The reported presence of many foreigners in Petra (see Strabo Geog. XVI.4.21, 26), however, could have resulted in the practice of non-local burial customs such as cremation. Excavators attributed these practices to foreigners likely associated with the Roman military.

Tombs:

1. Nabtaean Cemeteries outside of Petra:
2. Nabataean burials outside of Petralso suggest diversity in Nabataean funerary customs. Excavations of the Mampsis cemetery, for example, uncovered examples of direct inhumation, burial within cedar coffins and secondary burial. l. At the site, most burials contained only a few artifacts such as personal jewelry and, in one case, an alabaster jug (Negev 1986: 76-78). In one grave, a wooden box containing papyrus documents was placed at the feet of the deceased and burned (Negev 1971: 119). Additionally, Negev interprets commingling or scattering of skeletal material within four tombs as secondary burial, including one grave containing a smallimestone ossuary holding a cloth bundle of bones (Negev 1971: 120-21). The twenty-two extremely well-preserved graves from the first-second century CE cemetery of Khirbet Qazone each contained one individual, occasionally wrapped in decorated and stitched leather shrouds or textiles. Excavators discovered few artifacts within the grave context besides the leather shrouds, clothing and jewelry. They also recovered five funerary stelae and three Greek papyrus scrolls from within and near disturbed tombs (Politis 1999: 128)