The Silwan necropolis is the remains of a rock-cut cemetery assumed to have been used by the highest-ranking officials residing in Jerusalem.
[1] It is situated on the rocky eastern slope of the Kidron Valley, facing the oldest part of Jerusalem.
[1] In modern times, Arab villagers built homes over them or turned them into water cisterns and sewage dumps.
"[1] The stone benches on which bodies were laid out and the small square entrance doors are similar to those found elsewhere in Judah.
"[1] In contrast with the extensive family tombs of later periods, these are for single or double burials, with only one of the seven having room for three bodies.
[1] A second tomb type described by Ussishkin has flat ceilings and 1, 2 or 3 chambers of well-dressed stone carefully squared into spacious rooms.
The third type consists of just three "magnificent" monolith tombs, now located in the northern part of the Palestinian settlement.
[2] It is the only one of the three free-standing tombs in which the above-ground chamber survives, although the pyramid-shaped roof is missing because it was quarried for stone.
[5][2] Clermont-Ganneau shipped the tomb inscription to the British Museum, but it was only deciphered in the 1950s by Nahman Avigad.
[2][6] Some scholars believe that this is the tomb of the biblical Shebna, the steward and treasurer of King Hezekiah (727–698 BC).
It is thought that at the relevant time the same name could be written with or without the ending -yahu, thus allowing Shebanyahu as a variation of Shebna.