Italian archaeologists excavating beneath Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre have uncovered an ancient landscape that they say closely matches biblical descriptions of the place where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried.
The preliminary findings, published in the Jerusalem archaeological journal Liber Annuus, emerged from excavations conducted beneath the fourth-century church during restoration work that began several years ago.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built over a site traditionally believed by Christians to be where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.
Lead archaeologist Francesca Romana Stasolla of the University of Rome La Sapienza said the team had uncovered evidence suggesting that the area was once a funerary and agricultural landscape.
“We have found evidence of a funerary landscape,” Stasolla told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview published on Monday seen by our correspondent on Friday.
The excavation revealed an abandoned quarry, cultivated plots, rock-cut tombs and what appeared to be an ancient garden.
The discoveries have drawn attention because they appear to correspond with the biblical account in the Gospel of John, which states: “At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.”
According to the researchers, parts of the quarry were about 20 feet deep and had later been filled with soil, suggesting that the area was subsequently used for agriculture.
Evidence of olive trees and grapevines dating to around the period of Jesus’ death was also identified.
“The gospel mentions a green area between the Calvary and the tomb, and we identified these cultivated fields,” Stasolla told the Times of Israel.
The archaeologists also found graves carved directly into the rock, corresponding with descriptions in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke that Jesus’ tomb was carved from rock.
Other evidence points to the site having been recognised as a significant burial location long before the construction of the present church.
One of the chambers had been obstructed by a Roman structure dating to the reign of Emperor Hadrian in the second century. About two centuries later, during the construction works associated with Emperor Constantine, the Roman structure was destroyed and the area was excavated.
The tomb was subsequently separated from surrounding chambers and given its own Christian shrine, where pilgrims could gather for worship.
The findings, however, do not conclusively establish that the tomb belonged to Jesus.
Stasolla said the significance of the excavation also lay in what it revealed about generations of Christians who regarded the site as sacred.
“The real treasure we are revealing is the history of the people who made this site what it is by expressing their faith here,” she told the Times of Israel.
“Whether someone believes or not in the historicity of the Holy Sepulchre, the fact that generations of people did is objective. The history of this place is the history of Jerusalem, and at least from a certain moment, it is the history of the worship of Jesus Christ.”
Credit: BBC
