The Garden Tomb - Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

About a century ago, a 2,000-year-old tomb was discovered near this cliff called Skull Hill. Since the days when Constantinople legalized Christianity, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was erected to honor the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, it has been assumed that it was built over the correct location of where it happened. But interesting parallels between the garden tomb at Skull Hill and the descriptions in the Bible make one wonder if this might be the actual location. In any case, this garden tomb gives us a good idea of what the actual burial place of Jesus truly looked like.

100 years ago, Skull Hill looked like this. See the "eyes" and the remnants of a "nose" and a "mouth" at the bottom? Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, was called "The Place of the Skull."

Erosion has changed the look of the face in the past 100 years. How much has changed in 2,000 years? Did it look more like a skull? Or less?

Skull Hill is located next to a bus station where, for millennia, two main roads have intersected just outside old Jerusalem.

The Romans used this intersection for crucifixions, because the location guaranteed that more people would see the punishment and, hopefully, be deterred from committing the same crimes. For this reason, the Romans put signs on the crosses indicating what crime each person had been convicted of.

Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS .... Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads (Matt. 27:37,39)