Age of 'Christ's tomb' is revealed: Mortar used in the complex dates to Rome's first Christian emperor suggesting it really IS where 'Jesus was buried and resurrected'
- It lends weight to the belief Christ was buried and resurrected in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- Until now, the earliest architectural evidence found in the tomb complex dated to the Crusader period
- Mortar from between limestone surface of tomb and a marble slab that covers it has been dated to 345 AD
- New date puts the construction of the tomb in the time of Constantine, Rome's first Christian emperor
- It provides proof that the spot pilgrims worship is the same tomb found by Constantine in 4th century
Believers say it is the tomb where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven.
Now, for the first time, experts appear to have confirmed at least one element of the Christian narrative of its history.
Researchers sampled mortar taken from between the original limestone surface of the burial bed, where religious followers say Christ was laid to rest, and a marble slab that covers it.
They believe the marble dates to around 345 AD, which ties in to historical accounts that the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine, ordered the tomb be enshrined in a new church.
Constantine took this decision after his envoys discovered the tomb beneath an older temple, dedicated to the goddess Venus, in around 326 AD.
Believers say it is the tomb where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. Now, for the first time, experts appear to have confirmed at least one element of the Christian narrative of its history. Researchers sampled mortar from the burial bed, where religious followers say Christ was laid to rest, and found it dates to around 345 AD
Experts took samples of mortar from various locations within the Edicule back in 2016 with the results, as first reported by National Geographic, only now becoming public.
The earliest architectural evidence found in and around the tomb complex until now dates to the era of the Crusades.
This would make it no older than 1,000 years, aligning with the church's total destruction and subsequent rebuilding in 1009 AD.
But the Athens' teams dating suggests that the Edicule is a much older structure.
Speaking to National Geographic, Antonia Moropoulou, who directed the Edicule restoration project, said: 'It is interesting how [these] mortars not only provide evidence for the earliest shrine on the site, but also confirm the historical construction sequence of the Edicule.'
When the first Holy Roman Emperor Constantine sent representatives of the church to Jerusalem to locate the tomb in around 325 AD, they were directed by people in the region to a Roman temple built 200 years previously.
This was destroyed and the tomb was discovered beneath, carved into a limestone cave.
Constantine ordered that the interior of the tomb be revealed and the Edicule was built around it.
The tomb itself features a long shelf, or burial bed, which Christian tradition says is where Jesus was laid to rest, following his crucifixion.
This is surrounded by a marble covering, thought to have been installed at a much later date, potentially as late as 1555 AD.
The finding ties in to historical accounts that the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine, ordered the tomb be enshrined in a new church. Constantine took this decision after his envoys discovered the tomb beneath an older temple, dedicated to the goddess Venus, in around 326 AD. This image shows worshippers at the church
The tomb is surrounded by a marble covering, thought to have been installed at a much later date, potentially as late as 1555 AD. When the marble cladding was opened on October 26, 2016, an older slab of marble was found resting on top of the original limestone surface of the burial bed (pictured)
The mortar tested was taken from between this limestone surface and the slab of marble on top of it, which is marked with a cross cut into it. Experts determined that this older marble was installed around the 4th Century AD, lending credence to the Christian timeline of events
But when the marble cladding was opened on October 26, 2016, during restoration work to the Edicule, an older slab of marble was found resting on top of the original limestone surface of the burial bed.
The mortar tested was taken from between this limestone surface and the slab of marble on top of it, which is marked with a cross cut into it.
Experts determined that this older marble was installed around the 4th Century AD, lending credence to the Christian timeline of events.
DOES THIS PROVE THE TOMB BELONGED TO JESUS?
The new dating of the mortar does tie in with Christian accounts of the discovery of the tomb by representatives of the first Holy Roman Emperor Constantine
It is impossible to tell from dating methods alone whether the tomb contained the body of the Jewish man known as Jesus of Nazareth.
The presence of a burial bed does fit with the funeral traditions of wealthy Jews in Jerusalem during the 1st Century AD.
The New Testament places the death of Jesus around 30 to 33 AD.
The new dating of the mortar does tie in with Christian accounts of the discovery of the tomb by representatives of the first Holy Roman Emperor Constantine.
Mortar found between the burial bed and its marble slab covering being aged to the 4th Century matches up with this timeframe.
Removing the cover from the burial bed could theoretically provide more clues as to its occupant, but this would be seen as sacrilegious by many Christians.
The New Testament also states that the body of Jesus disappeared from its final resting place, resurrected to heaven to be by God's side.
Women who came to anoint his body three days after the burial reported that no remains were present.Scientists also dated the surrounding limestone tomb using two brick samples taken from the structure.
Mortar samples from remains of the cave's southern wall were dated to 335 and 1570 AD.
Researchers used a technique known as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to make their finding.
The method allows scientists to date ancient stone by measuring when sediment was most recently exposed to light.
Some believed the tomb was no older than 1,000 years, aligning with the church's total destruction and subsequent rebuilding in 1009 AD. But the Athens' teams dating suggests that the Edicule is a much older structure. A Greek priest stands inside the renovated Edicule on Monday, Mar 20, 2017
Scientists also dated the surrounding limestone tomb using two brick samples taken from the structure. Mortar samples from remains of the cave's southern wall were dated to 335 and 1570 AD. A Greek priest stands by a window into the burial chamber of Jesus' tomb for pilgrims to see what is believed to be the original stone wall of the burial cave
Researchers used a technique known as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to make their finding. The method allows scientists to date ancient stone by measuring when sediment was most recently exposed to light. The faithful visit the renovated Edicule
When sediments are buried or blocked from sunlight, natural background radiation results in energy being stored in minerals such as quartz.
If the mineral grains are not exposed to light the energy builds up and represents the amount of time since their burial.
Scientists can then measure the stored energy in the laboratory and pinpoint when the layers of mortar last saw sunlight.
Earlier this year, further work was undertaken to restore the historic site.
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE
Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans more than two thousand years ago, shown in this painting by Friedrich Overbeck
Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans.
The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule – a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house'.
An ornate structure with hanging oil lamps, columns and oversize candlesticks, the Edicule was erected above the spot where Christian tradition says Jesus' body was anointed, wrapped in cloth and buried before his resurrection.
Jewish tradition forbade burial within the walls of a city, and the Gospels specify that Jesus was buried outside of Jerusalem, near the site of his crucifixion on Golgotha, also known as 'the place of skulls'.
However, soon after the burial, the walls of Jerusalem were expanded, putting Golgotha and the nearby tomb within the city itself.
According to Eusebius of Caesarea, the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD built a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite in order to bury the cave in which Jesus had been buried, and assert the dominance of Roman state religion.
The first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, ordered in 325 that the temple be replaced by a church.
When his representatives arrived in Jerusalem to attempt to locate the tomb, they were sent to the temple built by Hadrian 200 years earlier.
The Roman temple was razed and excavations beneath it revealed a rock-cut tomb.
The top of the cave was sheared off to expose the interior, and a church was built around it to enclose the tomb.
During the building of the Church, Constantine's mother Helena claimed to have rediscovered the 'true cross'.
It is claimed that she found three crosses she tested each by having it held over a corpse and when the corpse rose up under one, that was the true cross.
The church was then completely destroyed by in 1009 by the Fatmid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, known as the 'mad Caliph' or 'Nero of Islam' in a bid to destroy Christian sites.
What and where: A floor plan of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with the Edicule chamber marked in red on the left
It was then rebuilt once again in the mid-11th century, when an agreement was reached between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 1027–8.
The rebuilding was finally completed with the financing at a huge expense by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople in 1048.
The rebuilt church site consisted of 'a court open to the sky, with five small chapels attached to it'.
A 12th-century restoration by the Crusaders gave the Holy Sepulchre its current appearance, while in 1808 a fire all but destroyed the Edicule.
In 1852, the Ottoman authorities then governing the Holy Land provided a framework for resolving disputes inside the church.
This picture shows workers removing the top of the tomb of Jesus Christ in the Church of Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule – a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house
This picture shows the restored tomb after renovation work was completed
It was last reconstructed in the early 19th century after a fire destroyed it but repairs are long overdue as the structure was damaged in an earthquake in 1927.
Excavations inside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the 20th century revealed remains of what is believed to be Hadrian's temple and walls from Constantine's original church.
Archaeologists also found an ancient limestone quarry and at least half a dozen other rock-cut tombs, some of which can be seen today. Just in time for Easter, a Greek team completed a renovation of the Edicule.
Restorers cut a small window from the shrine's marble walls for pilgrims to see - for the first time - the bare stone of the ancient burial cave.
Gone was the unsightly iron cage built around the shrine by British authorities in 1947 to shore up the walls and the black soot on the shrine's stone façade from decades of pilgrims lighting candles.
And gone were fears about the stability of the old shrine, which hadn't been restored in more than 200 years.
'If this intervention hadn't happened now, there is a very great risk that there could have been a collapse,' Bonnie Burnham of the World Monuments Fund said.
'This is a complete transformation of the monument.'
The fund provided an initial $1.4 million (£1 million) for the $4 million (£3 million) restoration, thanks to a donation by the widow of the founder of Atlantic Records.
The discovery was made by researchers from the National Technical University of Athens who worked to restore the Edicule shrine, which houses the tomb, gazed at here by worshippers
Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans. The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule – a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house'. This image shows the church packed for an Easter Orthodox ceremony on April 15, 2017
Christian pilgrims pray inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalems Old City during the Good Friday celebrations on April 14, 2017
Scaffolding inside the Edicule of the TombRestoration Of The Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, Israel in an image capture in 2016
Construction materials date to Roman times, suggesting the original holy site's legacy has survived despite its destruction 1,000 years ago
![Speaking to National Geographic, Antonia Moropoulou, who directed the Edicule restoration project, said: 'It is interesting how [these] mortars not only provide evidence for the earliest shrine on the site, but also confirm the historical construction sequence of the Edicule'](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sMW3b9szzP9FMaEOrnWTuC2FEYm_C3Eb2YyTMvLXiWqTtPwqpcRZGFCybdoOexpL7yx8YdjjaELnFtxmCRhijCACV0JMf3fT2AyvkWx9AW9wBZ0YOeA8mPM0EpdivMt875_X36x4zYleHQ-ytEDaP_TYkk3Wjm-xwbHN4b8eIW2FyKnhreAfk8mRWrLCEKoK2IHkNFn4Uxd0qebMO6cIm8m_r5e2gfbCBQLdJlhOn1rxLoHnn4gWwYm1cKMjMhrwE=s0-d)
Speaking to National Geographic, Antonia Moropoulou, who directed the Edicule restoration project, said: 'It is interesting how [these] mortars not only provide evidence for the earliest shrine on the site, but also confirm the historical construction sequence of the Edicule'
The Romans are said to have torn down a temple in Jerusalem where they found the cave that they believed to be his burial site. They then built a shrine (pictured are images inside the shrine)
Scientists dated the age of the tomb using two brick samples taken from the structure. Shown here are builders restoring the site
The Today show went inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The tomb is the size of a coat closet, and was open for just 60 hours while restoration work was also carried out
The shrine that is believed to house the burial place of Jesus Christ underwent restoration inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
To date the tomb, from the National Technical University of Athens looked at radioactive elements in the architectural glue that fit it together. Shown hereis scaffolding inside the Edicule of the Tomb Restoration Of The Holy Sepulchre
Shown here is scaffolding inside the Edicule of the TombRestoration Of The Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, Israel in 2016. The limestone and marble structure stands at the centre of the Church
Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also chipped in about 150,000 euros (£135,000 / $178,000) each, along with other private and church donations.
The limestone and marble structure stands at the centre of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, one of the world's oldest churches - a 12th-century building standing on 4th-century remains.
The shrine needed urgent attention after years of exposure to environmental factors like water, humidity and candle smoke.
Three main Christian denominations jealously guard separate sections of the church, but they put aside their longstanding religious rivalries to give their blessing for the restoration.
In 2015, Israeli police briefly shut down the building after Israel's Antiquities Authority deemed it unsafe, and repairs began in June 2016.
A restoration team from the National Technical University of Athens stripped the stone slabs from the shrine's façade and patched up the internal masonry of the shrine, injecting it with tubes of grout for reinforcement.
THE BURIAL SLAB WHERE CHRIST'S BODY WAS LAID
Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans more than two thousand years ago.
The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule – a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house.'
The burial slab (pictured being revealed from its marble case) many Christians believe once held the body of Jesus Christ has been uncovered by scientists for the first time in centuries. The original surface, partially shown in this picture, was exposed during restoration work at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem
An ornate structure with hanging oil lamps, columns and oversize candlesticks, the Edicule was erected above the spot where Christian tradition says Jesus' body was anointed, wrapped in cloth and buried before his resurrection.
It stands a few hundred yards from the site of Jesus' crucifixion.
With its stone staircases, gilded ornamentation and many dark chambers, the church is one of Christianity's holiest shrines. Each stone slab was cleaned of candle soot and pigeon droppings, then put back in place.
Titanium bolts were inserted into the structure for reinforcement, and frescos and the shrine's painted dome were given a face-lift.
The restorers also made some discoveries.
On October 26, the team entered the inner sanctum of the shrine, the burial chamber of Jesus, and temporarily slid open an old marble layer covering the bedrock where Jesus' body is said to have been placed.
Below the outer marble layer was a white rose marble slab engraved with a cross, which the team dated to the late Crusader period of the 14th century.
Beneath that marble slab was an even older, grey marble slab protecting the bedrock, and mortar on the slab dates to the 4th century, when Roman Emperor Constantine ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built.
The restorers cut a small window from the shrine's marble walls for pilgrims to see - for the first time - the bare stone of the ancient burial cave.
'It seems we are in front of levels of history that are validated,' said Antonia Moropoulou, who supervised the renovation.
The shrine needed urgent attention after years of exposure to environmental factors like water, humidity and candle smoke. Three main Christian denominations jealously guard separate sections of the church, but they put aside their longstanding religious rivalries to give their blessing for the restoration.
The renovated Edicule is seen in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's old city Monday, Mar. 20, 2017. A Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven.
Concern for the church's stability brought Christian denominations together, and Moropoulou hopes it ushers in a 'new era' of cooperation.
She hopes the communities will make some changes in longstanding customs inside the church, like pilgrims smashing their lit candles onto the Edicule's stone wall, so the structure is not compromised.
Now, money is being raised for another round of restorations - consolidating drainage and sewage pipes underground, around the tomb, to stabilize its foundations - so renovations won't be needed for years to come.
'Here is a monument that has been worshipped through the centuries, and will be worshipped forever,' said Moropoulou.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and is a major Christian pilgrimage destination