Holy Sepulchre dig documents Iron Age quarry later used for cultivation and burial; Sapienza publishes first Hagia Polis volume

Archaeologists from Sapienza University of Rome say the field excavation phase beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is complete. In an Oct. 3 interview with AgenSIR, Prof. Francesca Romana Stasolla, who directs the dig, said the work has documented an ancient stone quarry on which the site developed, later phases of use, and the layout of Constantine’s fourth-century complex. Sapienza’s 2026 project materials and popular coverage describe subsequent agricultural and funerary use of that landscape, including archaeobotanical traces linked to olive and grape cultivation. The dig began in 2022 during flooring and infrastructure restoration and was authorized by the three communities that guard the sanctuary: the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate and the Custody of the Holy Land (the Latin Catholic presence).

Stasolla told AgenSIR that the first caution is not to treat archaeology as something that “confirms” written tradition. Philology, history and archaeology each have their own methods, she said, and only later are the results compared. MARCA’s English report, summarizing the project, likewise notes that the team has found no inscription identifying Jesus and no remains that can be attributed to him. Finding evidence of cultivation compatible with a garden landscape described in the Gospel of John, Stasolla’s team has said, does not prove that the garden of the Gospel account was specifically the burial place of Jesus.

On Sept. 17 in Rome, Sapienza presented the first volume of the Hagia Polis Project series, Excavations at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Vol. 1: Project and Methodology, edited by Stasolla and published by TS Edizioni in the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum series. The Custody of the Holy Land reported the launch on Sept. 19. Seven further volumes are planned; the next will focus on the quarry and its use. Stasolla said the team remains in Jerusalem studying finds, archives and laboratory results, and that a proposal for an international touring exhibition of the results has been accepted by the three guardian communities.