Inside BAR

Where was Jesus laid to rest? Two sites in Jerusalem claim the honor. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is hallowed by a tradition that goes back at least to the fourth century when the emperor Constantine built the first church here.

But in the 19th century western Protestants regarded the Catholic Holy Sepulchre Church, in a crowded section of the Old City, as unsuitable and gave their loyalty to a two-chambered burial cave outside the city walls, to the north. Known as the Garden Tomb, this rock-hewn burial cave is now surrounded by flowering shrubs and plants and is visited by thousands of pilgrims each year.

The Garden Tomb, however, dates to the seventh or eighth century B.C., says archaeologist Gabriel Barkay; it’s part of a vast underground complex of burial chambers from the First Temple period. It was not a new tomb when Jesus was buried, and it was not in use during the time of Jesus, he claims.

“The Garden Tomb—Was Jesus Buried Here?” analyzes and illustrates the evidence, including the tomb’s layout, its style of burial benches and the distinctive Iron Age pottery that may have been discovered within it.