New discovery at Jesus' burial site confirms Bible's account

Beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, archaeologists from Sapienza University of Rome have uncovered an ancient garden, mentioned in the Gospel of John as surrounding the site where Jesus was crucified.

John 19:41 reads: 'Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus.'

Excavations began when the church underwent renovations in 2022, but it was only recently that 'evidence of the presence of olive trees and grapevines from around 2,000 years ago' was discovered.

Speaking to the Times of Israel, lead archaeologist Francesca Romana Stasolla 'The Gospel mentions a green area between the Calvary and the tomb, and we identified these cultivated fields.'

The discovery adds to the ongoing debate surrounding the location of Jesus' burial.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is agreed by many scholars to be the site of Jesus' entombment, welcomes around four million visitors each year.

It exceeds nearly 5,400 feet in diameter, and was built on top of a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Venus in 335AD. It was only during construction that what is believed to be the tomb of Christ was uncovered.

It is not just details about Jesus' burial that have come to light from the discovery; it has also revealed new information on ancient Jerusalem's history.

'The church stands on a quarry,' Stasolla continued. 'We found pottery, lamps, and other everyday objects dating back to that period'. The quarry then became farmland.

'The archaeobotanical findings have been especially interesting for us, in light of what is mentioned in the Gospel of John, whose information is considered written or collected by someone familiar with Jerusalem at the time'.