2025 Discovery helps confirm the Gospel of John

In the Gospel of John, he writes about the burial place, the tomb, of Jesus. John records that it was a carved tomb that had never been used and was located in a garden.

“Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.”  John 19:41

Now, almost two thousand years later, researchers have discovered evidence that supports the accuracy of the Gospel story. With the rare opportunity to excavate beneath the floors of the ‘Church of the Holy Sepulchre’, archaeologists have made a rather startling discovery. Professor Francesca Romana Stasolla led the team of researchers. The team was allowed to excavate materials from deep beneath the church's current floor. The archaeobotanical analysis found a large number of preserved seeds and pollen from Olive trees and grapevines.

Not only were seeds and pollens found, but the researchers also found that small dividing walls had been constructed and dirt hauled in to make the garden area. This demonstrates that the garden was planned and not just a wild area of growth. This is seen as proof that, before the area was used as a tomb, it was built as a garden. Furthermore, prior to the garden being built, stones had been quarried from this area. This gives us a progression of events for this area that perfectly matches the gospel account.

Quarry – Garden – Tomb

Carbon dating of the seeds and pollens places the garden in use approximately 2,000 years ago, or just before the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. This timeline fits very well with the gospel account, as it states that the tomb had never been used before, leading to the logical conclusion that it was new and recently carved.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was traditionally placed on the spot where Jesus was crucified and then laid in the tomb. This evidence shows the Gospel writer, in this case John, got the details exactly right. Taken together, this provides tangible physical evidence that the topography of a cultivated garden adjacent to tombs carved in a quarry did in fact exist at this location at the exact time in history recorded by the Apostle John. This is unprecedented proof to support the most sacred Christian tradition of Jesus being raised from the dead.