Italian archaeologists excavating beneath Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre say they have uncovered an ancient funerary landscape that closely matches the biblical description of the place where Jesus Christ was buried.
The findings were detailed in a preliminary study published in the Jerusalem archaeological journal Liber Annuus.
Lead archaeologist Francesca Romana Stasolla of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” said the excavation had uncovered evidence of an ancient burial landscape surrounding the site traditionally identified by Christians as the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection.
“We have found evidence of a funerary landscape,” Stasolla told the Daily Mail.
The archaeological team has been carrying out excavations at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a fourth-century church built over a site that has been revered by Christians for centuries. The church remains one of Christianity’s most important pilgrimage destinations and attracts millions of visitors annually.
During the final stages of the excavation in 2025, researchers uncovered what appeared to be an unusual landscape beneath the church, including an abandoned quarry, cultivated plots, rock-cut tombs and evidence of an ancient garden.
The discoveries have drawn attention because they appear to correspond with the biblical account of Jesus’ burial.
The Gospel of John states that Jesus was crucified at a location where there was a garden and that a new tomb, in which no one had previously been buried, was located within the garden.
The location also appears to correspond with descriptions in the New Testament that place the crucifixion near Jerusalem and outside the city gate.
According to the researchers, sections of the ancient quarry were about 20 feet deep and had later been filled with soil, suggesting that parts of the area were subsequently used for agricultural purposes.
Archaeologists also discovered evidence of olive trees and grapevines dating to around the period traditionally associated with Jesus’ death, believed to have occurred around AD 30–33.
“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 team also found graves carved directly into the rock, consistent with descriptions in the Gospels of Jesus’ burial place as a rock-cut tomb.
Further evidence came from the site’s later history. Researchers found that one of the chambers had been obstructed by a Roman structure believed to have been constructed during the reign of Emperor Hadrian in the second century.
About two centuries later, workers associated with Emperor Constantine’s building programme reportedly removed the Roman structure and exposed the tomb, which was subsequently separated from the surrounding chambers.
Archaeologists say the preservation and prominence given to the tomb by early Christian communities could indicate that knowledge of the location had been passed down through generations.
However, the discovery does not definitively prove that the tomb was Jesus Christ’s actual burial site.
Stasolla acknowledged the distinction, saying the significance of the excavation extends beyond proving the identity of the individual buried there.
“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.”
The findings nevertheless provide new archaeological evidence about the landscape surrounding the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and offer further insight into why the site has been revered as Jesus’ burial place for nearly two millennia.
