Tomb of Jesus

This description suggests a typical Jewish tomb of the Herodian period consisting of (1) an antechamber, (2) a slow doorway which could be sealed with a stone (in many cases a rolling stone fitted into a groove or track so that the tomb could be opened and closed by rolling the stone back and forth in front of the doorway), and (3) a passageway leading to a rectangular-shaped tomb chamber. Here the body (having been wrapped in a linen cloth) could be laid lengthwise in either a rectangular, horizontal, oven-shaped shaft driven back into the vertical rock face measuring 78 10:25 10:20 inches or laid on a simple rock shelf cut laterally into the rock with a vaulted arch over it. The sequence of events narrated in the Gospel accounts (especially John 20:5-6 ) would seem to indicate that Jesus' tomb had this vaulted arch.

The traditional site of the tomb of Jesus is marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which stands over the site of a first-century rock quarry which in Jesus' day was outside the city walls of Jerusalem and in which other typical first century tombs have been discovered. An alternative site known as the “the garden tomb” (adjacent to “Gordon's Calvary”) and containing a tomb of the type common to the Byzantine period (A.D. 324-640) was identified in 1883.

Hulitt Gloer