Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Scientists May Have Just Confirmed the Site of the Tomb of Jesus

Scientists May Have Just Confirmed the Site of the Tomb of Jesus
A picture taken on March 2, 2018 with a fish-eye lens shows the interior of the Holy tomb of Jesus Christ, where his body is believed to have laid, inside the Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. Photo credit: THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images

Samples from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre prove that the church itself dates to the time of Constantine, while the tomb within, said to be where Christ was laid to rest, is certainly as old as Christianity.

A team of scientists from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) has confirmed for the first time that Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre is indeed the site of one of Ancient Rome’s earliest Christian shrines.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built to shelter what is traditionally believed to be Christianity’s most sacred site: the burial location of Jesus of Nazareth. The church itself has been subjected to the kind of violence and destruction that most historic structures in Jerusalem have seen in the past 20 centuries, as the city’s rulers have changed.


The building itself underwent several remodelings in its first seven centuries. Most notably, it was completely destroyed in 1009, and after its reconstruction, the historical record notes a series of renovations and restorations in the past millennium.

But as for the shrine that the church shelters, scientific investigation has been light. Prior to its opening in October 2016, when the NTUA team collected their samples, the shrine was not opened for centuries. Tradition holds that the limestone shelf within the shrine is where the body of Jesus of Nazareth lay after his crucifixion in 30 CE.

The church’s site was identified as the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth in 326 CE, when Constantine I  — the first Roman emperor who converted to Christianity — dispatched representatives from Rome, including his mother, Helena, to find and enshrine sites referenced in the New Testament.

And the new research from the NTUA team has confirmed both that the earliest shrine built on the site dates from about 350 CE, which aligns with the contemporaneous records of Constantine. The team further confirmed that the tomb within dates to the first century CE, and the limestone slab within the shrine is itself in keeping with the burial rites of prosperous Jerusalem Jews of the period.

Some members of the multidisciplinary NTUA team took mortar samples from a number of different sites within the tomb, as other parts of the team determined the best way to both preserve and secure the existing architecture.

Due to its site and historic significance, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is revered across many Christian traditions, and responsibility for its caretaking is shared by the Greek Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Armenian Orthodox Church, with other interested communities observing.

Prior to this new evidence, the earliest the tomb could be dated was about 1000 CE, during the crusades.

And while neither the NTUA team nor any other scientists can definitively confirm or deny that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre shelters the site of the burial and resurrection of the individual known as Jesus of Nazareth, what this team has confirmed for the first time is that the church does very likely stand on the spot that Constantine’s representatives determined was the correct site, some 300 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, and that the burial shelf within dates from the era of the crucifixion itself.

More from News

Owen Cooper made history as the youngest Emmy winner, with a golden “Lucky Duck” gift from his idol Jake Gyllenhaal.
@netflix/Twitter

Jake Gyllenhaal Surprises Fan

Jake Gyllenhaal might have lost Best Supporting Actor back in 2006, but he can officially say he passed on a little Emmy magic.

Fifteen-year-old Owen Cooper, who just became the youngest Emmy winner in history, walked into last night’s ceremony with a pocket-sized good luck charm from his hero: a tiny golden duck from Gyllenhaal himself.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Trump Brutally Dragged After Making A Hilariously Stunning Admission About 'Smart People'

MAGA Republican President Donald Trump, while speaking Sunday in a luxury suite at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, said he is not liked by "smart people."

Addressing a small group at his New Jersey property where he spent the weekend, the POTUS said:

Keep ReadingShow less
A TikToker’s “husband-packed lunch” of cookies, stale snacks, leftovers, and dog food has gone viral.
@kaitlynnjb/TikTok

Teacher's Lunch Sparks Debate

Cookies, pretzels, an apple, leftover Chipotle… and dog food. That’s what TikToker @kaitlynnjb revealed her husband “lovingly” packed when she forgot her lunch at home because nothing says romance like pairing Milano cookies with Kibbles ’n Bits.

And no, folks, the TikToker is not a golden retriever; she’s a teacher who thought she was sharing a lighthearted story-time about her husband’s “lunch delivery.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Kim Reynolds; Charlie Kirk
Al Drago/Getty Images; Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union

MAGA Furious After Iowa Official Refuses Governor's Order To Fly Flags At Half-Staff For Charlie Kirk

Iowa City official Jon Green, chair of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, has declined to comply with Governor Kim Reynolds' order that flags be flown at half-staff following the murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk, stressing that he will not honor a man “who did so much to harm not only the marginalized, but also to degrade the fabric of our body politic.”

Green sent an email to other officials and department heads in which he asked “that we keep all victims of gun violence, including the slain Colorado students, at front of mind as we serve," referring to students who were shot at a Colorado high school the same day that Kirk was assassinated in Utah.

Keep ReadingShow less