An interior view of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is seen on Dec. 14, 2023, in the Old City of Jerusalem. Credit: Anadolu
Italian archaeologists excavating beneath Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre have uncovered an ancient landscape that they say closely matches biblical descriptions of the place where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried.
The preliminary findings, published in the Jerusalem archaeological journal Liber Annuus, emerged from excavations conducted beneath the fourth-century church during restoration work that began several years ago.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built over a site traditionally believed by Christians to be where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.
Lead archaeologist Francesca Romana Stasolla of the University of Rome La Sapienza said the team had uncovered evidence suggesting that the area was once a funerary and agricultural landscape.
