Church of the Holy Sepulchre excavations (Sapienza University of Rome, 2022-2025)

Overview

From 2022 to 2025 a Sapienza University of Rome team under Francesca Romana Stasolla excavated beneath the floor of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre while the floor was being restored. The project was approved by the three main communities that hold the church. The first season (May-November 2022, IAA licence G-20/2022) opened five areas in the north aisle and the northwest of the Rotunda. The 2023 season worked in the southeast Rotunda, in front of the Aedicule, and in the northeast ambulatory. The 2024 season covered the entrance, the southeast ambulatory and the Franciscan area. The 2025 report states that the excavations inside the church are complete.

The lowest levels are an ancient limestone quarry. The 2024 report says it 'extends over the entire area of the current church' and that its use was 'prolonged in time'. Above the quarry the 2022 report records a cultivation phase with remains of 'cereals, grapes, figs and gramineous plants', and damaged funerary structures on the bedrock. Later levels include the Constantinian church's northern wall and triporticus, the apse of the early Christian church with a Roman street beneath it, 4th-century coins, an 11th-century mosaic, and Crusader pillar foundations.

Public reports in 2025 (Times of Israel, March; Latin Patriarchate, July) highlighted olive and grapevine evidence from pollen and plant remains, and linked it to John 19:41's 'garden'. Stasolla also said that radiocarbon dating of that evidence had not yet been done.

What the evidence shows

Quarrying traces are 'visible all along the exposed rock surfaces', with varied depths and unfinished stones (HA-ESI 2022 season report).
A cultivation phase above the quarry with remains of cereals, grapes, figs and grasses, and evidence of olive and grape cultivation (HA-ESI 2022 season report).
Damaged funerary structures on the bedrock, below the Christian phases (HA-ESI).
Constantinian phase: the northern enclosing wall and triporticus of the 4th-century church, water channels and cisterns, and coins of Constantius II (337-361 CE) and Valens (r. 364-378 CE) (HA-ESI).
2023: the apse of the early Christian church, with a Roman street running beneath it (Liber Annuus 73 abstract).
2024: the quarry underlies the entire church and was worked over a long period (Liber Annuus 74 abstract).
As of March 2025, the plant evidence had been identified by pollen and archaeobotanical analysis, but radiocarbon testing 'has not yet been carried out' (Stasolla, quoted by Times of Israel).

Open questions

Is the cultivated soil a 1st-century garden? Stasolla (Times of Israel, March 2025; Latin Patriarchate, July 2025) links the olive and grapevine evidence to John 19:41. The published season report (HA-ESI) lists a cultivation phase with cereals, grapes, figs and grasses, and, as of March 2025, no radiocarbon date. So the layer is shown to be later than the quarry and earlier than the Christian construction, and nothing tighter yet.
Inside or outside the city? Stasolla: 'at the time of Jesus, the area was not part of the city yet', but it was inside the city by Hadrian's time (Times of Israel, March 2025). This fits John 19:20 and Heb 13:12 only if the relevant wall line is fixed. The Holy Sepulchre reports read here do not themselves fix the course of the 1st-century wall.
Which tomb? The Latin Patriarchate (July 2025) reports several rock-cut tombs and says one is 'possibly' the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The HA-ESI report records damaged funerary structures. Nothing inscribed ties any tomb to a named person.

Since 2024

2024-01IAA publishes the 2022 season report (HA-ESI): quarry, cultivation phase, funerary structures, Constantinian remains. [1]
20242024 season report: the quarry underlies the entire church; the entrance and southeast ambulatory were excavated. [4]
2025-03Stasolla publicly links olive and grapevine evidence under the church to John 19:41's garden, and says radiocarbon dating has not yet been done. [6]
2025-07Latin Patriarchate summary of results: quarry, garden-type cultivation, rock-cut tombs, Constantinian construction. [7]
20252025 preliminary report: excavations inside the church completed; interpretive synthesis and materials analysis under way. [5]

Sources

Stasolla, F. R. 2024. "Jerusalem, Church of the Holy Sepulchre" (Preliminary Report). Hadashot Arkheologiyot - Excavations and Surveys in Israel (online report, 2024). doi:10.69704/jhaesi.116.2004.26542 link excavation report
Stasolla, F. R. 2022. "Archaeological excavations in Jerusalem, Holy Sepulchre: a preliminary report." Liber Annuus 72: 449-486. doi:10.1484/j.la.5.134546 link excavation report
Stasolla, F. R. 2023. "Archaeological excavations in the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem: 2023 preliminary report." Liber Annuus 73: 385-418. doi:10.1484/j.la.5.141409 link excavation report
Stasolla, F. R. 2024. "Archaeological excavations in the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem: 2024 preliminary report." Liber Annuus 74: 285-329. doi:10.1484/j.la.5.150543 link excavation report
Stasolla, F. R. 2025. "Archaeological excavations in the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem: 2025 preliminary report." Liber Annuus 75(1): 619-716. doi:10.1484/j.la.5.155239 link excavation report
Tercatin, R. "Echoing Gospel account, traces of ancient garden found under Church of Holy Sepulchre." The Times of Israel, 22 March 2025. link study
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. "The Stones Speak: Excavations Reshaping the History of the Holy Sepulchre." 11 July 2025. link study

Corrected from the earlier edition of this page

Headlines saying the dig 'confirms the Gospel garden' outrun the data. The cultivation layer was not radiocarbon-dated as of March 2025 (Stasolla), and the season report lists cereals, grapes, figs and grasses without a 1st-century date.
An earlier draft note calls the quarry 'Iron Age ... later cultivated' as a single sequence. The 2024 report says quarrying under the church was 'prolonged in time', so the quarry cannot be treated as a single Iron Age event followed directly by the garden.
Popular claims that the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea has been identified overstate the Latin Patriarchate's own 'possibly'. No inscription or other find names a tomb's owner.

Checked against new publications through 2026-09.