Archaeologists Find Ancient Tomb and Garden That Match Biblical Account of Jesus

Archaeologists may have uncovered new evidence pointing to the location of Jesus Christ‘s tomb in Jerusalem.

According to a Thursday, August 27, report by the New York Post, researchers excavating beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre found an ancient burial area with rock-cut tombs, cultivated land and evidence of a garden.

The discoveries are significant because they appear to match biblical descriptions of the area where Jesus was crucified and buried, the outlet reported. The findings were detailed in a preliminary study published in the Jerusalem archaeological journal Liber Annuus. “We have found evidence of a funerary landscape,” lead archaeologist Francesca Romana Stasolla, of La Sapienza’ University of Rome, said, per the Daily Mail.

The New York Post reported that the excavations began in 2022 during restoration of the church’s floor and continued through 2025. Researchers discovered an abandoned quarry containing rock-cut tombs and areas that had apparently been used for cultivation.

Researchers also found evidence of olive trees and grapevines dating to around the time Jesus is believed to have died, approximately 33 A.D., according to the outlet. The tombs carved into the rock also resemble descriptions in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The site was outside Jerusalem’s city gates during Jesus’ lifetime, another detail researchers noted is consistent with biblical accounts of the crucifixion.

According to the report, those findings bear similarities to the Gospel of John, which describes a garden near the place where Jesus was crucified and a new tomb located within it. “The gospel mentions a green area between the Calvary and the tomb, and we identified these cultivated fields,” Stasolla said, the Times of Israel reported.

According to the New York Post, one burial chamber was later blocked by a Roman structure dating to the reign of Emperor Hadrian in the second century. Roughly 200 years later, during the reign of Emperor Constantine, workers removed the Roman construction, exposed the tomb and separated it from surrounding chambers before creating a Christian shrine around it.

The discoveries do not establish that the tomb belonged to Jesus, but Stasolla said the site offers evidence of generations of Christian belief. “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 said per the Times of Israel.