La Sapienza archaeologists report new evidence beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Three years of excavation under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre produced plant, quarry and Roman-period layers that match Gospel descriptions.
A team of Italian archaeologists from La Sapienza University of Rome says a three-year excavation inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has produced new material evidence that aligns closely with New Testament descriptions of Jesus’ burial.
The preliminary report was published in the 75th issue of the academic journal Liber Annuus, giving the findings formal scholarly weight and, the researchers say, removing the charge of sensationalism.
Technologies and key discoveries
Led by Professor Francesca Romana Stasola, the team combined modern field methods — 3D GIS mapping, laser scanning, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and palaeobotanical analysis — to reconstruct the ancient landscape beneath the church. Their work identified several interlocking results.
Analyses of soil layers and preserved plant remains produced traces of olive and vine material dated to about 2,000 years ago, a detail that echoes the Gospel of John (John 19:41), which places the crucifixion site near a garden and a “new” unused tomb.
The archaeologists also concluded that the location had been a first-century stone quarry outside Jerusalem’s city walls where rock was broken and tombs were cut into the living rock — characteristics described in the Gospel accounts.
According to the report, in the second century the Roman emperor Hadrian ordered the area to be buried under large amounts of earth and rock to erect a pagan temple dedicated to Venus (Aphrodite). Paradoxically, that artificial covering acted as a protective layer that helped preserve the original rock-cut sepulchre.
When Emperor Constantine later removed the pagan temple — between 325 and 326 — he found a rock-cut tomb largely intact and then built the first basilica over that location, the researchers write.
Professor Stasola is careful about claims of absolute religious verification, but stresses a historical point: "Whether someone believes in the existence of the Holy Sepulchre or not, the indisputable historical factography is that generations and generations of people since ancient times have deeply believed that the location is authentic, and the latest discoveries show why they had such solid grounds for that."
Photo: press material from the event
