Secrets of the Dead (2000–…): Season 2, Episode 5 - Tomb of Christ - full transcript
Tonight,
"Tombs of Jerusalem."
Jesus is said to have been
crucified and buried
in this ancient city.
Now, archeologists ask,
"Is this the tomb of Christ?"
The most important place
in Christianity
has actually been ignored.
Examine evidence
that this church conceals
the actual site
of Jesus' burial.
A search
for the true tomb of Christ
as we uncover
Secrets of the Dead.
Secrets of the Dead
was made possible
by contributions
to your PBS station from:
Deep in the heart
of the Holy Land
lies the ancient city
of Jerusalem.
The city is sacred to many
of the world's major religions
and its boundaries and icons
have been fought over
for thousands of years.
Muslims, Christians and Jews all
claim control of various areas
and even today,
the battles continue to rage.
For Christians, the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
is the most venerated site.
Built by the Roman Emperor
Constantine in 325 A.D.
it is said to cover the spot
where Jesus
was crucified and buried.
Inside the Church is a chapel
known as the edicule
which, according to tradition,
houses the rock-cut tomb
where Christ lay
before his resurrection.
For many pilgrims
who visit the site
it is a symbolic place
of worship and respect.
But others believe that it
is the actual spot
where Christ's body rested
even though Constantine
built his Church there
300 years after the crucifixion.
Yet despite
the Church's importance
no one has actually investigated
what lies beneath
the ancient edicule.
The secrets beneath the stones
have been hidden for thousands
of years... until now.
In an unprecedented gesture,
the four religious sects
that share ownership
of the church...
The Greek Orthodox, Roman
Catholic, Armenian and Coptic...
Have agreed to allow a husband-
and-wife archaeological team
to conduct the first-ever
major survey of the edicule.
Martin and Birthe Biddle
hope their work will help answer
one of the great questions in
the history of Christianity.
Using endoscopes, computers,
historical records
and state-of-the-art
heat-sensitive cameras
they hope to discover
exactly what lies within
the outer walls of the chapel
and perhaps begin to discern
whether the edicule
actually protects
the real tomb of Christ.
Almost everything
that is known about Jesus
comes from the Gospels...
The ancient writings
of his disciples.
According to these chronicles,
in the year 30 or 33 A.D.
the last hours of Christ's life
were played out here
in the ancient city
of Jerusalem.
This is where he was said
to have been crucified
buried and resurrected.
The Gospels say that Jesus
was taken out of the city
to Golgotha,
meaning "place of the skull."
There, he was nailed
to the cross
and six hours later, his
lifeless body was carried
to a rock-cut tomb
in a garden nearby.
He was crucified
in what was an abandoned quarry.
And later in the afternoon...
Because the bodies have to be
off the cross by sunset
according to Jewish law...
Joseph of Arimathea and a friend
took him down
and laid him in a rock-cut tomb.
The disciples simply used
the nearest tomb they could;
quickly got together a shroud
and they simply put him
on the rock bench in the tomb.
On Sunday morning,
the first day of the week
Mary Magdalene and other women
came to the tomb
to provide the normal burial
rights for Jesus;
there had been no time
on the Friday afternoon.
But she and the others
found the tomb empty
and that's why
the empty tomb has become
the physical symbol
of resurrection faith.
That is why
it has become immortalized
as fundamental
to the goal of the pilgrim.
Christians have been searching
for the site of Christ's tomb
for thousands of years
and in recent times
there have been claims
that it lies as far away
as the Pyrenees or even India.
Most serious academics agree
that it is definitely
somewhere in Jerusalem
but much controversy remains
about its exact location.
Those who favor the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre as the site
base their belief
on the findings
of the Emperor Constantine, the
first Christian leader of Rome.
In 325 A.D., he brought
his forces to Jerusalem
to erect churches
on important Christian sites.
Excavating near a rock
that was reported to be Golgotha
Constantine's men uncovered
several rock-cut tombs
and found something that
immediately led Constantine
to hail one
as the tomb of Christ.
A small chapel
was built around it
and above that, the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre...
Meaning "holy tomb"...
Was constructed.
In the 17 centuries
since Constantine built
that first original structure
the chapel has been damaged
many times
by fires, earthquakes and more.
Each time it was rebuilt
but many believe
that at some point or another
the original rock-cut tomb
that it protects
must also have been destroyed.
The current chapel,
the edicule...
Which only dates back
to the early 19th Century
appears to be
all that has survived.
At least that
is what was thought
until Professor of Archaeology
Martin Biddle
and his wife, Birthe,
arrived on the scene.
11 years ago, the two were asked
to do a survey
of the present structure
which itself had been damaged
by an earthquake in 1927.
We were phoned up
out of the blue
and asked whether we
would be interested
in studying the tomb of Christ
in the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem.
The reason for this
was that a structure
built around the tomb
called the edicule,
"the little house"
had not been restored
as had all the rest
of the church
and clearly, at some stage
it would have to be restored.
This would be an extraordinary
opportunity for the Biddles.
They would be the first to
seriously investigate the place
where Christ was said
to have been buried.
What we hadn't realized
was how very little studied
the building was.
I'd always thought
that it would be
the most studied structure
in Christendom
and was amazed that it wasn't.
The edicule, the building around
the tomb of Christ...
The most
important place
in Christianity...
Has actually been ignored.
I suppose
we started off thinking
as most other people had,
that outside, at any rate
it dated entirely from 1809
to 1810, when it was restored.
We were fairly suspicious
about it.
What we set out to do
was to make very careful
stone-by-stone records
in our notebooks
describing every part and aspect
of the structure
so that we could define what was
absolutely simple and normal.
And then suddenly we might come
across a stone or a stone joint
or a projection of stonework
that simply didn't follow
this normal plan.
And that started raising
questions in our minds.
And we... we'd got
to those questions
within about 48 hours
of studying the outside.
Their finds
raised interesting questions
about the current structure, but
were not completely unexpected.
They knew from previous research
that there had been other
structures on the same site
so they figured
they were just discovering
a few forgotten remnants.
By looking at written histories
of the building
by looking at the extraordinary
range of depictions
that exist of the various
edicules, we were able to deduce
that altogether, there had been
four successive edicules:
One, the present one
built after the fire of 1808
another built in the middle
of the 16th century
the third one built early
in the 11th century
and one built by Constantine
after the discovery
of the tomb in 325, 326.
The Biddles continued to find
more and more protruding pieces
of the earlier edicules.
That's amazing.
They began to wonder
if the current structure
had been built
around the older ones
instead of replacing them,
as was previously thought.
The actual entrance, here,
into the tomb chamber
this is all 1809 to 1810,
no doubt about this.
There are these marble slabs.
So we know that this marble
and this marble
and undoubtedly the marble
on this side as well
belong to a period
earlier than the reconstruction
of 1809 to '10.
And then we have
another marble arch here
actually leading
into the tomb chamber;
but, I mean, this one here
must at least have been the arch
that was in position
before 1809 to '10
so it's at least 1555.
This extraordinary
marble insert..
But if the previous edicules
really did remain
inside the most recent one
it would mean that
each successive structure
had to have been big enough
to encompass those
that were built before it.
To find out if this
was even possible
the Biddles brought in
a consultant
to carry out a 3-D
photogrammetric survey
of the edicule.
We took just under
200 photographs in all
of the edicule
and these were in stereo pairs
whereby we were looking
at the same object
from slightly different
camera positions.
What we have to try and do
is recreate the positions
of our cameras
within our computer model.
Once we have these
accurately positioned
we can then
start taking measurements
from each of the photographs...
which gives us the ability
of viewing these in the 3-D
and therefore being able to take
three-dimensional measurements
from there.
The results of this
are a highly accurate model
that is accurate
to a few millimeters.
Once Littleworth
had finished the model
of the 19th-century edicule
he used dimensions gathered
from original plans and drawings
to create scaled 3-D images of
each of the earlier chapels...
From the 4th century...
the 11th century...
and finally, the 16th century.
The point of creating models
of the previous structures
was to see how they fitted
within the present structure.
Once we superimposed them,
we found
that the 11th-century fitted
over the 4th-century structure
the 16th fitted over
the 11th-century structure
and finally, the present edicule
fitted over
the 16th-century structure.
This was an exciting revelation
for the Biddles.
If the earlier structures that
had been built over the tomb
were still there
then there was a chance
that the tomb itself was, too.
Constantine had seen it
in the fourth century
and there were also later
detailed accounts
of what it looked like.
Of course, people always wonder
whether there's anything of
the original rock-cut tomb left.
Well, there's a really
remarkable chain of evidence
that suggests that there is.
It begins with the fact
that Constantine's edicule
was specifically constructed
to protect the remains of the
rock-cut tomb which he found.
It was seen again by
Boniface of Ragusa in 1555
and he left us a very formal
account in Latin
of what he'd seen.
"There open to our own eyes
was the tomb of the Lord
cut into the rock."
"Sanctissimi Domini sepulcrum
in petra excisum."
"The tomb of the Lord
cut in the rock."
A quite specific statement
of what he'd actually seen
when he'd taken down
the medieval edicule
in order to rebuild;
he saw the rock-cut tomb...
Or what remained of it...
Inside the structure.
The Biddles' archaeological
survey, 3-D mapping
and careful historical research
had turned up
a potential breakthrough.
They now have reason to believe
that the tomb
found by Constantine
and long thought
to have been destroyed
may still remain beneath
the present-day edicule.
But even if the tomb
does still exist
is there any way to determine
whether it had
actually been Christ's?
The Biddles' first step
is to find out
exactly what a tomb from that
era would have looked like.
The Hinnom Valley
lies just outside
the old city walls of Jerusalem.
This is the place
where Judas Iscariot was thought
to have committed suicide
after he betrayed Jesus.
The valley is full
of old limestone quarries...
among which are dozens
of ancient tombs.
The Biddles have come here
with Dan Bahat
an expert
on Jewish burial customs
to see if these tombs can offer
clues about the burial of Jesus.
Imagine when it was not so built
as it is today.
You mean, all this is illegal?
The Greek Orthodox Monastery
of Onuphrias
is perched on the side
of the valley.
Beneath it
are many ancient tombs
and although none are candidates
for the actual tomb of Christ
they are from the same period
and can show what Christ's tomb
probably looked like.
Oh, look at that.
Oh, that's a big one, isn't it?
With a domed ceiling
to it as well.
What sort of date is this, Dan?
It's pretty grand, isn't it?
I think it will be
last days of
the Second Temple Period
namely, the last quarter
of the first century A.D.
In the time of Christ,
when somebody will die
the body will be cleaned
by anointing him with oil
scraping the oil exactly
as it was done
in the Roman Period altogether.
Then it will be put all kinds
of perfumes, of course
to keep the body clean,
and then wrapped with shrouds.
The body will be laid
on the ledge
and then it will finally...
after a year it will
have the shape
as we see the skeleton here.
The outer chambers contain
the bodies of early monks
who lived and died
in these caves
several centuries
after the time of Christ.
They give a graphic illustration
of how people were laid to rest
in rock-cut tombs.
But these platforms
are larger than Christ's
which the Gospels say
had a single bench
only big enough for one body.
Further inside the complex
Dan shows the Biddles
a more accurate example.
It really does give you the feel
of a small rock-cut tomb.
And the rock-cut bench here.
The bench to the right
exactly as the Sepulchre itself.
When one's actually
in the tomb chamber
in the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
that is what...
However eroded and broken...
Is covered by the marble slabs
and by the burial slabs.
So that's what...
that really is a shelf
a rock-cut shelf
in a rock-cut tomb.
With a clear picture
of what tombs from Christ's time
looked like
and growing evidence
that a rock-cut tomb
may still exist within the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
the Biddles turn
to the biggest mystery of all:
How did Constantine really know
that the tomb over which
he built his chapel
was the actual tomb
where Christ was buried?
Jerusalem has been called
"the City of the Dead."
In and around its ancient walls
lie thousands of tombs dating
back many centuries.
Amidst the multitude
of anonymous tombs
how was it possible for
Constantine to determine
exactly which one
belonged to Jesus
300 years after the crucifixion?
Were there any special features
that helped him identify it?
The most direct historical
descriptions of Christ's burial
are found in the Gospels.
They tell us that Jesus
was crucified on a Friday
outside the city walls
in a rocky area called Golgotha,
"the place of the skull."
By applying the Gospels
to old plans and excavations
under the city
archaeologists
have pieced together details
of the route Christ
probably took to his death.
Eventually he would
have come to a gate.
We don't know how long
that walk took.
It's an angle gate...
He would have had to struggle
through two right-hand turns
before he came out into the open
and then he would have been
just on the edge...
The eastern edge... of a quarry.
And there just below the walls
on a little hill, which
had been eroded into two eyes
so that it looked like a skull
there he would
have been crucified.
The Gospels tell that as Jesus
hung from the cross
the skies grew dark
and he cried out
"My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?"
He is said to have suffered
for six hours
before finally uttering his last
words: "It is finished."
At about 3:00 in the afternoon,
he died
and was taken down
from the cross.
Rushing to beat the Sabbath,
two disciples carried him away
and prepared his body
for burial.
He was sprinkled with dry spices
and wrapped in a linen cloth.
Then, he was laid to rest
in a rock-cut tomb
close to the site
of the crucifixion.
The salient points for
the Biddles' investigation
are that Jesus was crucified
outside the city walls
in a rocky area beneath
a skull-shaped stone.
And that he was buried
in a rock-cut tomb
within a garden close by.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
is traditionally seen
as fitting this description
because it is thought
to contain not only a tomb
but also a rock that marks the
spot where Golgotha once was.
This is the traditional site
of Golgotha
behind the façade
of the Holy Sepulchre here
behind the great
barred glass window.
As you come west
from the site of Golgotha
left of the entrance
of the church
behind the great bell tower
here, under the rotunda
is the site of the rock-cut tomb
covered, uh,
by the edicule today.
This altar is said to cover
the actual rock of Golgotha
and stands 39 yards
from the edicule
under which Christ's tomb
is thought to be.
For those who believe
this is the actual place
where Christ was crucified
it is a most holy site
for worship.
But many believe
that Constantine picked
the wrong spot
when he built the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
and that Christ's actual tomb
lies elsewhere in Jerusalem.
Some have thought it is at this
spot, known as the Garden Tomb.
In many ways,
the Garden Tomb seems to match
the words
of the Gospels exactly.
It lies in a garden
close to a cliff face
that looks like a skull.
And, it also fits the Gospels
in one way that
the Holy Sepulchre does not...
It lies outside the city walls.
Every year the Garden Tomb
attracts thousands of pilgrims
who come here to honor the place
where Christ
was crucified and buried.
For many people,
a visit to the Holy Sepulchre
is the thing
that they really want to do
if they believe that
that is the actual place
where Jesus was buried
and rose again.
But for many of our visitors...
Particularly those who come
from the United States
North America, Europe...
Culturally, they don't feel
quite so much at home;
they're not used to all
the orthodox architecture
and lanterns,
and all the incense.
It's not what they're used to
in terms of when
they go to church.
They're not necessarily
so comfortable there.
They feel much more comfortable
here at the Garden.
There is a sense of an oasis,
an oasis of peace and calm.
People find they can sit
perhaps read their New Testament
read the story
of the crucifixion
and the resurrection
and to remind themselves that
they could indeed be sitting
in the actual place
where this all happened.
He said, "Do this
as often as thee do it
"and show forth
my death..." what?
"Till I come again."
Talking about past and future!
"Death... till I... come again."
How many of you believe
he's coming back?
The Garden Tomb was discovered
by General Gordon of Khartoum
in the 19th century.
He made his discovery
after finding a rock formation
that matched the Gospels'
description of Golgotha.
Gordon had questioned
the authenticity of the tomb
beneath the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
because of its location
inside Jerusalem.
He was looking for a site
outside the city walls.
He was a student of the Bible...
Studying what the Bible
was actually saying
about the places...
And came to look at the...
where the bus station now stands
outside our garden.
And he became
increasingly convinced
that that was in fact Golgotha.
That area up there
was known as Skull Hill
before the time of Gordon.
And therefore, he and others
were looking all round this area
for a tomb that fitted the
details of the New Testament
about the tomb of Jesus.
And just remember
that the person who took down
the body of Jesus from the cross
was a rich man,
Joseph of Arimathea
and he had this tomb nearby.
Has to be a Jewish tomb.
And some of our visitors
who come here say, you know
"But Jesus... surely
it was a Christian tomb."
Jesus, of course, lived and
died and was buried as a Jew
and buried in a Jewish tomb.
So a rich man's, Jewish tomb,
from the time of Jesus
in a garden setting
a tomb, in fact,
which could have been sealed
by a rolling stone.
You can imagine
a very large stone
being placed here in the groove
and then rolled across to seal
the entrance to the tomb.
So it does fit
all the details of the Bible
about the tomb of Jesus.
Inside, evidence
that this was the right tomb
appeared even stronger.
First of all
one of the features
we've got here
is the pillow there
where the head could have rested
and a place cut out of the rock
down there for the feet.
But we've also got
a second tomb over here.
And the interesting thing
is that this one
although it's got a place
for the head
there's no place cut
for the feet.
And Jesus, as you remember
was buried in a new tomb...
A tomb where a man
had not yet lain.
One of the features
in those days was
that although they
had constructed the tomb
they only cut the place
for the feet
when they saw the size
of the person to be buried.
Therefore we know that
this one has been used...
Place for the head,
place for the feet...
Whereas this one may not have
been used at that stage.
So having it all
fitting together...
A rich man's Jewish tomb
in a garden setting
so close to a possible
Crucifixion site...
I think you can see
why people felt
that this could indeed be
the actual tomb of Jesus.
As convincing as the case
for the Garden Tomb might seem
most archeologists now doubt
its authenticity.
They believe that many
of the physical characteristics
of the tomb are not consistent
with the period
when Jesus was buried.
The Garden Tomb
is a very lovely place
and many people appreciate it.
The difficulty
is that the features of the tomb
simply don't fit with a tomb
of the period of Jesus
in the first century A.D.
Archeologists who have studied
the Jewish tomb
in Jerusalem believe
that it belongs
to a period perhaps seven
or eight centuries earlier
and the groove outside it
which is pointed out
as a groove for a rolling stone
is unlike any other rolling
stone groove in Jerusalem.
It's probably, in fact,
a crusader water channel.
So despite the many similarities
it would seem
that the Garden Tomb
could not have been the place
where Christ was buried.
But it still had one
important characteristic
that the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre did not: its location.
It would have to be outside
the city wall
and once Jesus
had been sentenced to death
he, as you know, carried his
cross outside the city wall
to the place in Aramaic
called "Golgotha"...
"the place of the skull."
And that would have been
an open space
where a lot of people
could have seen the Crucifixion.
Just to remind you
that the Crucifixion
was a deterrent form
of punishment.
They wanted robbers, malefactors
to see what was going on
and learn
the appropriate lesson.
So it was an open place,
probably by the roadside.
We know for sure that this area
here was outside the city wall.
The Holy Sepulchre
may not have been.
This one factor casts
a long shadow over the theory
that Christ's tomb lies beneath
the edicule in the Church.
Had Constantine been mistaken
when he chose that site?
The location of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
has caused people a lot of worry
because the Gospels say
he was taken out.
Taken out of the city,
in other words
to the place of Crucifixion.
But of course, as you can see
the great dome covering the tomb
of Christ
and the place of Golgotha...
The Crucifixion
just to the right of it...
Are very obviously completely
inside the city today.
But perhaps that was not
the case when Christ was alive.
It is the city which has moved.
It's possible to look down
on the city
and see where the walls lay
at the time of Jesus.
You can see today that the roofs
of the building on the right
are higher
and the roofs of the building
on the left are lower.
And that difference between
the high roofs to the right
of buildings inside
the line of the wall
and low roofs to the left
of buildings outside
the line of the city wall
give us the line
of the north wall of the city
as it was in the time of Jesus.
And it was only with
the extension of the city walls
to the west and to the north
about ten years only after
the time of the Crucifixion
that the traditional site
was brought within the city
which is why the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
is within the walls
of the city today.
So at the time Christ was buried
the spot where the Church
would later be built
was actually outside the city.
It was not until 41 A.D.
that Jerusalem expanded
to where the walls now stand.
So what initially looked like
a contradiction can be explained
by the growth of the city,
further supporting the theory
that the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
was built
over Christ's actual tomb.
But the Biddles believe
they can find
even more substantial evidence.
They know that Christ
was buried as a Jew
so they are looking
for an indication
that the tomb beneath the Church
was a Jewish one.
Archeologists know
that ancient Jewish tombs
were often cut into the sides
of former quarries
and the Gospels themselves
mention Jesus was crucified
on the eastern edge of a quarry.
If there is evidence of a quarry
beneath the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
it would be one more sign
that the tomb
could have been Christ's.
Jon Seligman, of the
Israeli Antiquities Authority
has studied the Church
in detail.
He has found clear evidence
that it was, in fact, built
above an ancient quarry.
Now, we're standing
within a quarry
where it's very clearly shown
by the sort of marks
that we can see on the ceiling.
The ceiling shows where
the stones have been removed
from the quarry, leaving
these marks of the block sizes
that were cut
from the quarry itself.
And the walls of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
are built within the quarry,
within the quarry marks
so therefore, the building
has to be after the quarry
has been actually exhausted.
The quarrying system was to cut
a channel around the stone
and then with a diagonal cut
to then place a wedge...
a metal wedge behind it
and hit it with a hammer, and
the stone would then come away.
That was the system of quarrying
that we know to have been used
during the first century,
from other sites.
So there is therefore
a possibility that this quarry
is either from the first
century... the time of Jesus...
Or a little bit of time before
that, which of course is
the right chronological
relationship we're looking for.
Not only is the chronology
of the quarry right
there are also some remarkable
first-century tombs
within the catacombs.
The most important of these
lies deep inside.
Oral tradition has it
that Joseph of Arimathea
was buried here.
Joseph is said to have supplied
the tomb for Jesus
and his grave lies only yards
from the edicule.
We're now within the tomb
that's traditionally attributed
to Joseph of Arimathea
which is in the back part
of the Holy Sepulchre
about 15 meters
from the tomb of Christ.
Now, this tomb is a typical tomb
of the first century...
The first century
before Christ...
Until the first century
after Christ.
Within the space of the Church
we have a tomb,
the quarry and Golgotha.
All those three things together
give us the sort of site
that could well have been used
for the tomb of Christ.
And the date the tomb
was created
can be fine-tuned even further.
Under Jewish law, burials
had to be outside city walls.
But records show that
Jerusalem expanded over the site
of the Holy Sepulchre in 41 A.D.
Therefore, the very latest
the tombs beneath the Church
could have been constructed was
ten years after Christ's death.
The time frame was narrowing
and for Professor Biddle,
the evidence was adding up.
This would have been
a very uneven, rocky landscape
with many, many small quarries
for large blocks of stone.
Between the quarries, areas
of cultivated ground...
The Gospels called it a garden
but it was a cultivated ground,
really...
And certainly rock-cut tombs
here.
We know of several
and, of course,
Joseph of Arimathea
had already made a rock-cut tomb
on this site
before the Crucifixion
took place.
So it's a Jewish cemetery
of the first century A.D.
in the middle
of a long-abandoned quarry
with patches of cultivation.
It's a remarkable piece of
confirmation of the authenticity
of the traditional site
of the burial.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
seems to have all the landmarks
of Christ's burial place.
But in 325 A.D., what allowed
the emperor Constantine
to identify that exact tomb
amid the rubble
and thousands of other tombs?
In the years immediately
after the Crucifixion
Christ's tomb may
have been easily recognizable.
But in the second century
it was completely buried
by the emperor Hadrian
who built a temple
to the Roman gods on the site.
The Biddles believe
that a reference to Golgotha
in a third-century book means
that part of the stone
must still have been visible.
But others disagree
and think that from the time
Hadrian built his Pagan temple
the site was completely covered
and forgotten.
200 years later, they say,
when Constantine began searching
there would have been no way
to identify the site.
These critics believe
Constantine could have picked
any tomb in any quarry.
He had recently made
Christianity
the favored religion of Rome
and had political reasons for
wanting to discover the site.
Constantine was creating
a new official religion
which had to look back
in its roots.
This religion had to go back
to its origins
and it had to create foundations
that there would be visible
to the world.
The tomb had to be discovered,
and it was discovered
in the middle of the city
of Aelia Capitolina...
A Pagan city...
And the Church was built over it
to show to the world
that this is the center
of Christianity
and, really,
it had become visible
that there was a victory here...
A Christian victory
over the Pagans.
I think such criticism
of Constantine...
That he needed a tomb
for political reasons
so he invented tomb...
Now, that's purely gratuitous.
I mean, there's not
the slightest bit of evidence
for that.
What I believe
is that there was a consistent
memory in Jerusalem.
Christians, of course...
Who venerated Jesus
as a holy man...
They certainly, in keeping
with the customs of their age
they would have gone
to pray at his tomb.
So they knew exactly
where it was.
And when Hadrian built
this temple to Juno, Jupiter
and Minerva... the Capitaline
Temple... right over that site
then, of course, the Christian
memory in Jerusalem
was intensified by bitterness.
He excluded their visits to the
tomb of their holiest person.
Then subsequently,
when visitors came
they were told... I presume with
great anger... "It's under there!
"Right in the middle
of the city!
"That's where he was crucified,
that's where he was buried
and, look, we can't get there!"
But even with directions
from local Christians
what made Constantine certain
he had found precisely
the right burial chamber
when he dismantled
the Pagan temple
and dug down into the cemetery?
What did he find
that made him sure he had
uncovered Christ's actual tomb?
Was there something
about the tomb
that differentiated it
from the others
that were discovered here?
The historian Usybias, who saw
the tomb when it was unearthed
said it provided clear
and visible proof
of Christ's Resurrection.
What clue had he seen?
The Biddles believe they might
find the answer not in Jerusalem
but here,
in the ancient city of Rome.
Like the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
Roman catacombs beneath the city
were important sites
of religious pilgrimage
for early Christians.
People came to pray
near the bodies
of early popes and saints.
Professor Biddle believes
that in addition to the bodies
these Roman tombs hold a clue
that would have
allowed Constantine
to identify Christ's tomb
back in Jerusalem
300 years after the Crucifixion
took place.
This is the crypt of the popes
in the catacomb
of Saint Calystus
about 40 feet underground,
just outside the walls of Rome.
Now, just outside the entrance
of this crypt
are walls with plaster
still surviving on it.
And this plaster is covered
with hundreds
of scratched inscriptions...
With graffiti, if you like.
Uh, not only are they up
and down the wall
but they're one on top
of another in different hands
and different styles
over a long period of time.
The reason that I wanted
to look at this
is because I think
that in Jerusalem
when the tomb of Christ
was uncovered in 325 or 326
what led Usybias to identify it
so confidently
as the tomb of Jesus... as
the place of the Resurrection...
Was that the walls outside
were covered with graffiti
just like these.
One of the most extraordinary
inscriptions here, I think
is this one, which says,
"Gerusale: civitas
et ornamentum"...
"Jerusalem: city
and ornament..."
"Martyrum Dei"...
"of the martyrs of God."
It takes us right back
to Jerusalem.
But what takes us even closer
is that here, just very faintly
between "Jerusalem"
and the word "ornamentum"
somebody in a later hand
has written in Greek...
"Anastasis"...
"the Resurrection."
It shows how these ideas,
although we may be in Rome
they're all part of a common
loyalty of Christian behavior
of visiting the places
of saints and martyrs
visiting the rock-cut tomb
of Jesus
leaving their prayers
and their names in graffiti.
Professor Biddle believes
the same would have been true
in Jerusalem.
The whole idea, of course, being
that the saints and martyrs
are physically present
in this place
where their bodies lie
as well as in Heaven
so that they form a bridge
between Earth and Heaven
and can carry the prayers
and wishes
of those who are praying here...
And who are scratching
their prayers and wishes
on these walls... up to Heaven.
And it's an astonishing idea,
but that is the whole idea
that lies behind the veneration
of the place
in which martyrs and saints
are buried.
So perhaps here in the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
deep within the ornate
outer shell of the edicule
lies a rock-cut tomb
whose entrance is scratched
with prayers and dedications
that identify it
as the tomb of Christ.
I think Professor Biddle's
theory that the tomb
was identified by Constantine's
engineers because the name Jesus
was scratched on one side
or the other...
I think that makes...
to me that makes perfect sense.
I think it's a brilliant idea,
because I live in Jerusalem.
It's a place
to which pilgrims come.
I have to give directions.
And the same thing would have
been true in the first century
where busy people with lives
to live and businesses to run
they would be pestered
by pilgrims.
"Where is the tomb of Jesus?"
And I say,
"Look, you see that big quarry?
"Go down there,
look along the west wall
and you'll see the name Jesus
scratched on one side."
Outside the Church, this
tradition of Christian graffiti
can be seen
on the 12th-century columns
that tower over the entrance.
Here hundreds of pilgrims
and crusaders
have scratched their prayers
into the stones.
If the Biddles' theory is right
and the tomb beneath the edicule
was marked in a similar fashion
Constantine would
have found evidence
that the burial chamber
he uncovered and then enshrined
really did belong to Christ.
But it will take
modern technology
and the removal of much red tape
to give the Biddles
the opportunity
to prove they are correct.
In an unprecedented gesture,
the various Church authorities
allow the Biddles to call in
a structural archaeologist
who uses thermal imaging
and endoscopic cameras
to look through old buildings
and reveal their inner layers.
Robert Demaus expects
the pictures he takes
to give a clear indication
of any structure hidden
within the edicule.
At long last, the Biddles
will have the chance
to look for the actual tomb
that they believe is there
and to prove that their earlier
three-dimensional models
of the edicules were correct.
When they began their initial
research, they thought
all that existed of the edicule
was the most recent
19th-century chapel.
But since then, they have found
much evidence that the chapels
were actually constructed
like nested Russian dolls
with four successive structures
from the fourth, 11th, 16th
and 19th centuries,
built one outside the other.
With his endoscopic camera,
Demaus will be the first person
to actually look inside
the walls of the edicule.
I can control the end
so that I can put it into the...
into the gap in the stone.
It is difficult to keep a sense
of scale, if not proportion.
Um, to give you an idea, I was
looking at a building in London
and came face to face
with what I first took
to be a three-foot cockroach.
I nearly jumped off
the scaffolding
before realizing that it was
a perfectly standard cockroach.
But I can see straightaway here
that there's enormous
potential for this
for creating
crystal-clear images.
There's a picture
of Elvis Presley.
Good gracious.
It's not Elvis Presley.
No, it's...
it's a picture...
These are little prayers
or thanksgivings.
Demaus's endoscopic camera
works within the walls
but his thermal-imaging system
takes longer
to reveal its secrets.
He will have to stay overnight
to collect thermal photographs
that can detail
the hidden structures.
The Church is closed
for the evening
but Demaus stays behind.
This is the best time
for him to work
as he will get the clearest
images of the edicule
once the body heat from the
day's visitors has dissipated.
This works to some extent
like an ordinary video camera
but we're looking at wavelengths
and the infrared range
rather than visible light.
And by that we're able
to detect very small variations
in temperature.
If you think of photography
as looking at variations
in shade and light,
then thermography
is basically looking
at variations in heat and cold.
Now, obviously with light,
you can see the variations
with the naked eye,
but with infrared radiation
you have to use
a very specific camera
to pick up that particular
wavelength of energy
and that's what
this camera does.
The back of the thermal-imaging
camera has to cool down
to minus 175 centigrade.
Um, this enables it
to be extremely sensitive
to tiny variations.
This particular camera
which is the most sensitive
portable camera available
on the civilian market, um,
is able to detect differences
as small as .025 a degree.
And particularly when we're
looking at a building like this
where there are very small
temperature changes
through the day
and through the night
and between different elements
of the building
that ability to pick up very
small changes is most important.
I'm looking always for changes
in the temperature
and the way that the heat
is flowing out of the panels.
Um, those with a lower mass will
tend to cool down more quickly
and those which have bigger mass
or are attached
to other structure behind
will tend to hold
their heat longer.
Demaus hopes the camera
will reveal some of the inner
structure of the edicule
but his pictures
will have to be processed
and carefully analyzed before
he can be sure he has succeeded.
It takes about a month before he
is ready to reveal his results.
He meets the Biddles in England
to show them what he has found.
Is it in the computer?
With what you're using,
you're better off...
The thermal pictures
from the Church show
that there is at least one
completely separate building
within the 19th-century
outer shell...
It looks much nicer straight on.
Just as the Biddles
had suspected.
It is a separate structure,
if you like.
The... the visible areas
of the edicule, um...
don't seem to be relating
to what's going on behind
and when we started looking
through with endoscopes
that certainly confirmed that
but there was
no visible connection
between the outer skin and what
we could see of what was inside.
The endoscope videos corroborate
what the thermal images
were indicating... that there
were inner walls within
but separate from
the most recent outer structure.
This isn't an area
that's actually moved out
very much.
Excellent.
So there's physically air
between the outer skin...
Everywhere we look
there is physically air
or very loose,
crumbling material.
Now, if that's the case
the inner, by definition
is going to be earlier
and these walls are so thick
as the photogrammetric
plan shows
and the skin is so thin
that there is
a tremendous
amount of space
which now I think
we can be sure of
does include
the remains of
earlier edicules.
The results from the thermal
and endoscopic imaging
confirm the Biddles' theory
that the remains of earlier
structures still exist
within the current edicule.
And they also provide evidence
that there really may be a rock-
cut tomb beneath the chapels.
The thermal camera shows heat
as red, and cool as yellow.
On the left side,
where the tomb should be
the temperature seems hotter.
This could indicate the presence
of the actual burial chamber.
Once again, the endoscope
reveals more details.
Quite clearly, in several
places, we can see cut stone
possibly even living rock from
which the original tomb was cut.
It's a remarkable result,
Robert.
There's much to do, but my
goodness, what a step forward.
The cameras have delved
farther inside the edicule
than anyone has ever gone
and revealed strong evidence
that the tomb exists within.
But for now, there is no way
to actually see what remains.
However, like the rest of the
Church, the crumbling edicule
will one day need
to be renovated
and when that time comes,
the Biddles are certain
that at least part of the actual
tomb of Christ will be found.
The exciting and extraordinary
thing is that after 11 years
of developing ideas
about the tomb of Christ
in the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
we seem to see these ideas
coming true.
There is a rock-cut tomb
surviving in some way
inside the present edicule.
There are remains
of earlier edicules.
And the whole tradition
of the site
whether it's place names
or historical evidence
is that this is, indeed,
the original rock-cut tomb
of Christ.
Next time, a mysterious kill Res
of the past at PBS Online.
"Tombs of Jerusalem."
Jesus is said to have been
crucified and buried
in this ancient city.
Now, archeologists ask,
"Is this the tomb of Christ?"
The most important place
in Christianity
has actually been ignored.
Examine evidence
that this church conceals
the actual site
of Jesus' burial.
A search
for the true tomb of Christ
as we uncover
Secrets of the Dead.
Secrets of the Dead
was made possible
by contributions
to your PBS station from:
Deep in the heart
of the Holy Land
lies the ancient city
of Jerusalem.
The city is sacred to many
of the world's major religions
and its boundaries and icons
have been fought over
for thousands of years.
Muslims, Christians and Jews all
claim control of various areas
and even today,
the battles continue to rage.
For Christians, the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
is the most venerated site.
Built by the Roman Emperor
Constantine in 325 A.D.
it is said to cover the spot
where Jesus
was crucified and buried.
Inside the Church is a chapel
known as the edicule
which, according to tradition,
houses the rock-cut tomb
where Christ lay
before his resurrection.
For many pilgrims
who visit the site
it is a symbolic place
of worship and respect.
But others believe that it
is the actual spot
where Christ's body rested
even though Constantine
built his Church there
300 years after the crucifixion.
Yet despite
the Church's importance
no one has actually investigated
what lies beneath
the ancient edicule.
The secrets beneath the stones
have been hidden for thousands
of years... until now.
In an unprecedented gesture,
the four religious sects
that share ownership
of the church...
The Greek Orthodox, Roman
Catholic, Armenian and Coptic...
Have agreed to allow a husband-
and-wife archaeological team
to conduct the first-ever
major survey of the edicule.
Martin and Birthe Biddle
hope their work will help answer
one of the great questions in
the history of Christianity.
Using endoscopes, computers,
historical records
and state-of-the-art
heat-sensitive cameras
they hope to discover
exactly what lies within
the outer walls of the chapel
and perhaps begin to discern
whether the edicule
actually protects
the real tomb of Christ.
Almost everything
that is known about Jesus
comes from the Gospels...
The ancient writings
of his disciples.
According to these chronicles,
in the year 30 or 33 A.D.
the last hours of Christ's life
were played out here
in the ancient city
of Jerusalem.
This is where he was said
to have been crucified
buried and resurrected.
The Gospels say that Jesus
was taken out of the city
to Golgotha,
meaning "place of the skull."
There, he was nailed
to the cross
and six hours later, his
lifeless body was carried
to a rock-cut tomb
in a garden nearby.
He was crucified
in what was an abandoned quarry.
And later in the afternoon...
Because the bodies have to be
off the cross by sunset
according to Jewish law...
Joseph of Arimathea and a friend
took him down
and laid him in a rock-cut tomb.
The disciples simply used
the nearest tomb they could;
quickly got together a shroud
and they simply put him
on the rock bench in the tomb.
On Sunday morning,
the first day of the week
Mary Magdalene and other women
came to the tomb
to provide the normal burial
rights for Jesus;
there had been no time
on the Friday afternoon.
But she and the others
found the tomb empty
and that's why
the empty tomb has become
the physical symbol
of resurrection faith.
That is why
it has become immortalized
as fundamental
to the goal of the pilgrim.
Christians have been searching
for the site of Christ's tomb
for thousands of years
and in recent times
there have been claims
that it lies as far away
as the Pyrenees or even India.
Most serious academics agree
that it is definitely
somewhere in Jerusalem
but much controversy remains
about its exact location.
Those who favor the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre as the site
base their belief
on the findings
of the Emperor Constantine, the
first Christian leader of Rome.
In 325 A.D., he brought
his forces to Jerusalem
to erect churches
on important Christian sites.
Excavating near a rock
that was reported to be Golgotha
Constantine's men uncovered
several rock-cut tombs
and found something that
immediately led Constantine
to hail one
as the tomb of Christ.
A small chapel
was built around it
and above that, the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre...
Meaning "holy tomb"...
Was constructed.
In the 17 centuries
since Constantine built
that first original structure
the chapel has been damaged
many times
by fires, earthquakes and more.
Each time it was rebuilt
but many believe
that at some point or another
the original rock-cut tomb
that it protects
must also have been destroyed.
The current chapel,
the edicule...
Which only dates back
to the early 19th Century
appears to be
all that has survived.
At least that
is what was thought
until Professor of Archaeology
Martin Biddle
and his wife, Birthe,
arrived on the scene.
11 years ago, the two were asked
to do a survey
of the present structure
which itself had been damaged
by an earthquake in 1927.
We were phoned up
out of the blue
and asked whether we
would be interested
in studying the tomb of Christ
in the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem.
The reason for this
was that a structure
built around the tomb
called the edicule,
"the little house"
had not been restored
as had all the rest
of the church
and clearly, at some stage
it would have to be restored.
This would be an extraordinary
opportunity for the Biddles.
They would be the first to
seriously investigate the place
where Christ was said
to have been buried.
What we hadn't realized
was how very little studied
the building was.
I'd always thought
that it would be
the most studied structure
in Christendom
and was amazed that it wasn't.
The edicule, the building around
the tomb of Christ...
The most
important place
in Christianity...
Has actually been ignored.
I suppose
we started off thinking
as most other people had,
that outside, at any rate
it dated entirely from 1809
to 1810, when it was restored.
We were fairly suspicious
about it.
What we set out to do
was to make very careful
stone-by-stone records
in our notebooks
describing every part and aspect
of the structure
so that we could define what was
absolutely simple and normal.
And then suddenly we might come
across a stone or a stone joint
or a projection of stonework
that simply didn't follow
this normal plan.
And that started raising
questions in our minds.
And we... we'd got
to those questions
within about 48 hours
of studying the outside.
Their finds
raised interesting questions
about the current structure, but
were not completely unexpected.
They knew from previous research
that there had been other
structures on the same site
so they figured
they were just discovering
a few forgotten remnants.
By looking at written histories
of the building
by looking at the extraordinary
range of depictions
that exist of the various
edicules, we were able to deduce
that altogether, there had been
four successive edicules:
One, the present one
built after the fire of 1808
another built in the middle
of the 16th century
the third one built early
in the 11th century
and one built by Constantine
after the discovery
of the tomb in 325, 326.
The Biddles continued to find
more and more protruding pieces
of the earlier edicules.
That's amazing.
They began to wonder
if the current structure
had been built
around the older ones
instead of replacing them,
as was previously thought.
The actual entrance, here,
into the tomb chamber
this is all 1809 to 1810,
no doubt about this.
There are these marble slabs.
So we know that this marble
and this marble
and undoubtedly the marble
on this side as well
belong to a period
earlier than the reconstruction
of 1809 to '10.
And then we have
another marble arch here
actually leading
into the tomb chamber;
but, I mean, this one here
must at least have been the arch
that was in position
before 1809 to '10
so it's at least 1555.
This extraordinary
marble insert..
But if the previous edicules
really did remain
inside the most recent one
it would mean that
each successive structure
had to have been big enough
to encompass those
that were built before it.
To find out if this
was even possible
the Biddles brought in
a consultant
to carry out a 3-D
photogrammetric survey
of the edicule.
We took just under
200 photographs in all
of the edicule
and these were in stereo pairs
whereby we were looking
at the same object
from slightly different
camera positions.
What we have to try and do
is recreate the positions
of our cameras
within our computer model.
Once we have these
accurately positioned
we can then
start taking measurements
from each of the photographs...
which gives us the ability
of viewing these in the 3-D
and therefore being able to take
three-dimensional measurements
from there.
The results of this
are a highly accurate model
that is accurate
to a few millimeters.
Once Littleworth
had finished the model
of the 19th-century edicule
he used dimensions gathered
from original plans and drawings
to create scaled 3-D images of
each of the earlier chapels...
From the 4th century...
the 11th century...
and finally, the 16th century.
The point of creating models
of the previous structures
was to see how they fitted
within the present structure.
Once we superimposed them,
we found
that the 11th-century fitted
over the 4th-century structure
the 16th fitted over
the 11th-century structure
and finally, the present edicule
fitted over
the 16th-century structure.
This was an exciting revelation
for the Biddles.
If the earlier structures that
had been built over the tomb
were still there
then there was a chance
that the tomb itself was, too.
Constantine had seen it
in the fourth century
and there were also later
detailed accounts
of what it looked like.
Of course, people always wonder
whether there's anything of
the original rock-cut tomb left.
Well, there's a really
remarkable chain of evidence
that suggests that there is.
It begins with the fact
that Constantine's edicule
was specifically constructed
to protect the remains of the
rock-cut tomb which he found.
It was seen again by
Boniface of Ragusa in 1555
and he left us a very formal
account in Latin
of what he'd seen.
"There open to our own eyes
was the tomb of the Lord
cut into the rock."
"Sanctissimi Domini sepulcrum
in petra excisum."
"The tomb of the Lord
cut in the rock."
A quite specific statement
of what he'd actually seen
when he'd taken down
the medieval edicule
in order to rebuild;
he saw the rock-cut tomb...
Or what remained of it...
Inside the structure.
The Biddles' archaeological
survey, 3-D mapping
and careful historical research
had turned up
a potential breakthrough.
They now have reason to believe
that the tomb
found by Constantine
and long thought
to have been destroyed
may still remain beneath
the present-day edicule.
But even if the tomb
does still exist
is there any way to determine
whether it had
actually been Christ's?
The Biddles' first step
is to find out
exactly what a tomb from that
era would have looked like.
The Hinnom Valley
lies just outside
the old city walls of Jerusalem.
This is the place
where Judas Iscariot was thought
to have committed suicide
after he betrayed Jesus.
The valley is full
of old limestone quarries...
among which are dozens
of ancient tombs.
The Biddles have come here
with Dan Bahat
an expert
on Jewish burial customs
to see if these tombs can offer
clues about the burial of Jesus.
Imagine when it was not so built
as it is today.
You mean, all this is illegal?
The Greek Orthodox Monastery
of Onuphrias
is perched on the side
of the valley.
Beneath it
are many ancient tombs
and although none are candidates
for the actual tomb of Christ
they are from the same period
and can show what Christ's tomb
probably looked like.
Oh, look at that.
Oh, that's a big one, isn't it?
With a domed ceiling
to it as well.
What sort of date is this, Dan?
It's pretty grand, isn't it?
I think it will be
last days of
the Second Temple Period
namely, the last quarter
of the first century A.D.
In the time of Christ,
when somebody will die
the body will be cleaned
by anointing him with oil
scraping the oil exactly
as it was done
in the Roman Period altogether.
Then it will be put all kinds
of perfumes, of course
to keep the body clean,
and then wrapped with shrouds.
The body will be laid
on the ledge
and then it will finally...
after a year it will
have the shape
as we see the skeleton here.
The outer chambers contain
the bodies of early monks
who lived and died
in these caves
several centuries
after the time of Christ.
They give a graphic illustration
of how people were laid to rest
in rock-cut tombs.
But these platforms
are larger than Christ's
which the Gospels say
had a single bench
only big enough for one body.
Further inside the complex
Dan shows the Biddles
a more accurate example.
It really does give you the feel
of a small rock-cut tomb.
And the rock-cut bench here.
The bench to the right
exactly as the Sepulchre itself.
When one's actually
in the tomb chamber
in the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
that is what...
However eroded and broken...
Is covered by the marble slabs
and by the burial slabs.
So that's what...
that really is a shelf
a rock-cut shelf
in a rock-cut tomb.
With a clear picture
of what tombs from Christ's time
looked like
and growing evidence
that a rock-cut tomb
may still exist within the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
the Biddles turn
to the biggest mystery of all:
How did Constantine really know
that the tomb over which
he built his chapel
was the actual tomb
where Christ was buried?
Jerusalem has been called
"the City of the Dead."
In and around its ancient walls
lie thousands of tombs dating
back many centuries.
Amidst the multitude
of anonymous tombs
how was it possible for
Constantine to determine
exactly which one
belonged to Jesus
300 years after the crucifixion?
Were there any special features
that helped him identify it?
The most direct historical
descriptions of Christ's burial
are found in the Gospels.
They tell us that Jesus
was crucified on a Friday
outside the city walls
in a rocky area called Golgotha,
"the place of the skull."
By applying the Gospels
to old plans and excavations
under the city
archaeologists
have pieced together details
of the route Christ
probably took to his death.
Eventually he would
have come to a gate.
We don't know how long
that walk took.
It's an angle gate...
He would have had to struggle
through two right-hand turns
before he came out into the open
and then he would have been
just on the edge...
The eastern edge... of a quarry.
And there just below the walls
on a little hill, which
had been eroded into two eyes
so that it looked like a skull
there he would
have been crucified.
The Gospels tell that as Jesus
hung from the cross
the skies grew dark
and he cried out
"My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?"
He is said to have suffered
for six hours
before finally uttering his last
words: "It is finished."
At about 3:00 in the afternoon,
he died
and was taken down
from the cross.
Rushing to beat the Sabbath,
two disciples carried him away
and prepared his body
for burial.
He was sprinkled with dry spices
and wrapped in a linen cloth.
Then, he was laid to rest
in a rock-cut tomb
close to the site
of the crucifixion.
The salient points for
the Biddles' investigation
are that Jesus was crucified
outside the city walls
in a rocky area beneath
a skull-shaped stone.
And that he was buried
in a rock-cut tomb
within a garden close by.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
is traditionally seen
as fitting this description
because it is thought
to contain not only a tomb
but also a rock that marks the
spot where Golgotha once was.
This is the traditional site
of Golgotha
behind the façade
of the Holy Sepulchre here
behind the great
barred glass window.
As you come west
from the site of Golgotha
left of the entrance
of the church
behind the great bell tower
here, under the rotunda
is the site of the rock-cut tomb
covered, uh,
by the edicule today.
This altar is said to cover
the actual rock of Golgotha
and stands 39 yards
from the edicule
under which Christ's tomb
is thought to be.
For those who believe
this is the actual place
where Christ was crucified
it is a most holy site
for worship.
But many believe
that Constantine picked
the wrong spot
when he built the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
and that Christ's actual tomb
lies elsewhere in Jerusalem.
Some have thought it is at this
spot, known as the Garden Tomb.
In many ways,
the Garden Tomb seems to match
the words
of the Gospels exactly.
It lies in a garden
close to a cliff face
that looks like a skull.
And, it also fits the Gospels
in one way that
the Holy Sepulchre does not...
It lies outside the city walls.
Every year the Garden Tomb
attracts thousands of pilgrims
who come here to honor the place
where Christ
was crucified and buried.
For many people,
a visit to the Holy Sepulchre
is the thing
that they really want to do
if they believe that
that is the actual place
where Jesus was buried
and rose again.
But for many of our visitors...
Particularly those who come
from the United States
North America, Europe...
Culturally, they don't feel
quite so much at home;
they're not used to all
the orthodox architecture
and lanterns,
and all the incense.
It's not what they're used to
in terms of when
they go to church.
They're not necessarily
so comfortable there.
They feel much more comfortable
here at the Garden.
There is a sense of an oasis,
an oasis of peace and calm.
People find they can sit
perhaps read their New Testament
read the story
of the crucifixion
and the resurrection
and to remind themselves that
they could indeed be sitting
in the actual place
where this all happened.
He said, "Do this
as often as thee do it
"and show forth
my death..." what?
"Till I come again."
Talking about past and future!
"Death... till I... come again."
How many of you believe
he's coming back?
The Garden Tomb was discovered
by General Gordon of Khartoum
in the 19th century.
He made his discovery
after finding a rock formation
that matched the Gospels'
description of Golgotha.
Gordon had questioned
the authenticity of the tomb
beneath the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
because of its location
inside Jerusalem.
He was looking for a site
outside the city walls.
He was a student of the Bible...
Studying what the Bible
was actually saying
about the places...
And came to look at the...
where the bus station now stands
outside our garden.
And he became
increasingly convinced
that that was in fact Golgotha.
That area up there
was known as Skull Hill
before the time of Gordon.
And therefore, he and others
were looking all round this area
for a tomb that fitted the
details of the New Testament
about the tomb of Jesus.
And just remember
that the person who took down
the body of Jesus from the cross
was a rich man,
Joseph of Arimathea
and he had this tomb nearby.
Has to be a Jewish tomb.
And some of our visitors
who come here say, you know
"But Jesus... surely
it was a Christian tomb."
Jesus, of course, lived and
died and was buried as a Jew
and buried in a Jewish tomb.
So a rich man's, Jewish tomb,
from the time of Jesus
in a garden setting
a tomb, in fact,
which could have been sealed
by a rolling stone.
You can imagine
a very large stone
being placed here in the groove
and then rolled across to seal
the entrance to the tomb.
So it does fit
all the details of the Bible
about the tomb of Jesus.
Inside, evidence
that this was the right tomb
appeared even stronger.
First of all
one of the features
we've got here
is the pillow there
where the head could have rested
and a place cut out of the rock
down there for the feet.
But we've also got
a second tomb over here.
And the interesting thing
is that this one
although it's got a place
for the head
there's no place cut
for the feet.
And Jesus, as you remember
was buried in a new tomb...
A tomb where a man
had not yet lain.
One of the features
in those days was
that although they
had constructed the tomb
they only cut the place
for the feet
when they saw the size
of the person to be buried.
Therefore we know that
this one has been used...
Place for the head,
place for the feet...
Whereas this one may not have
been used at that stage.
So having it all
fitting together...
A rich man's Jewish tomb
in a garden setting
so close to a possible
Crucifixion site...
I think you can see
why people felt
that this could indeed be
the actual tomb of Jesus.
As convincing as the case
for the Garden Tomb might seem
most archeologists now doubt
its authenticity.
They believe that many
of the physical characteristics
of the tomb are not consistent
with the period
when Jesus was buried.
The Garden Tomb
is a very lovely place
and many people appreciate it.
The difficulty
is that the features of the tomb
simply don't fit with a tomb
of the period of Jesus
in the first century A.D.
Archeologists who have studied
the Jewish tomb
in Jerusalem believe
that it belongs
to a period perhaps seven
or eight centuries earlier
and the groove outside it
which is pointed out
as a groove for a rolling stone
is unlike any other rolling
stone groove in Jerusalem.
It's probably, in fact,
a crusader water channel.
So despite the many similarities
it would seem
that the Garden Tomb
could not have been the place
where Christ was buried.
But it still had one
important characteristic
that the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre did not: its location.
It would have to be outside
the city wall
and once Jesus
had been sentenced to death
he, as you know, carried his
cross outside the city wall
to the place in Aramaic
called "Golgotha"...
"the place of the skull."
And that would have been
an open space
where a lot of people
could have seen the Crucifixion.
Just to remind you
that the Crucifixion
was a deterrent form
of punishment.
They wanted robbers, malefactors
to see what was going on
and learn
the appropriate lesson.
So it was an open place,
probably by the roadside.
We know for sure that this area
here was outside the city wall.
The Holy Sepulchre
may not have been.
This one factor casts
a long shadow over the theory
that Christ's tomb lies beneath
the edicule in the Church.
Had Constantine been mistaken
when he chose that site?
The location of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
has caused people a lot of worry
because the Gospels say
he was taken out.
Taken out of the city,
in other words
to the place of Crucifixion.
But of course, as you can see
the great dome covering the tomb
of Christ
and the place of Golgotha...
The Crucifixion
just to the right of it...
Are very obviously completely
inside the city today.
But perhaps that was not
the case when Christ was alive.
It is the city which has moved.
It's possible to look down
on the city
and see where the walls lay
at the time of Jesus.
You can see today that the roofs
of the building on the right
are higher
and the roofs of the building
on the left are lower.
And that difference between
the high roofs to the right
of buildings inside
the line of the wall
and low roofs to the left
of buildings outside
the line of the city wall
give us the line
of the north wall of the city
as it was in the time of Jesus.
And it was only with
the extension of the city walls
to the west and to the north
about ten years only after
the time of the Crucifixion
that the traditional site
was brought within the city
which is why the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
is within the walls
of the city today.
So at the time Christ was buried
the spot where the Church
would later be built
was actually outside the city.
It was not until 41 A.D.
that Jerusalem expanded
to where the walls now stand.
So what initially looked like
a contradiction can be explained
by the growth of the city,
further supporting the theory
that the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
was built
over Christ's actual tomb.
But the Biddles believe
they can find
even more substantial evidence.
They know that Christ
was buried as a Jew
so they are looking
for an indication
that the tomb beneath the Church
was a Jewish one.
Archeologists know
that ancient Jewish tombs
were often cut into the sides
of former quarries
and the Gospels themselves
mention Jesus was crucified
on the eastern edge of a quarry.
If there is evidence of a quarry
beneath the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
it would be one more sign
that the tomb
could have been Christ's.
Jon Seligman, of the
Israeli Antiquities Authority
has studied the Church
in detail.
He has found clear evidence
that it was, in fact, built
above an ancient quarry.
Now, we're standing
within a quarry
where it's very clearly shown
by the sort of marks
that we can see on the ceiling.
The ceiling shows where
the stones have been removed
from the quarry, leaving
these marks of the block sizes
that were cut
from the quarry itself.
And the walls of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
are built within the quarry,
within the quarry marks
so therefore, the building
has to be after the quarry
has been actually exhausted.
The quarrying system was to cut
a channel around the stone
and then with a diagonal cut
to then place a wedge...
a metal wedge behind it
and hit it with a hammer, and
the stone would then come away.
That was the system of quarrying
that we know to have been used
during the first century,
from other sites.
So there is therefore
a possibility that this quarry
is either from the first
century... the time of Jesus...
Or a little bit of time before
that, which of course is
the right chronological
relationship we're looking for.
Not only is the chronology
of the quarry right
there are also some remarkable
first-century tombs
within the catacombs.
The most important of these
lies deep inside.
Oral tradition has it
that Joseph of Arimathea
was buried here.
Joseph is said to have supplied
the tomb for Jesus
and his grave lies only yards
from the edicule.
We're now within the tomb
that's traditionally attributed
to Joseph of Arimathea
which is in the back part
of the Holy Sepulchre
about 15 meters
from the tomb of Christ.
Now, this tomb is a typical tomb
of the first century...
The first century
before Christ...
Until the first century
after Christ.
Within the space of the Church
we have a tomb,
the quarry and Golgotha.
All those three things together
give us the sort of site
that could well have been used
for the tomb of Christ.
And the date the tomb
was created
can be fine-tuned even further.
Under Jewish law, burials
had to be outside city walls.
But records show that
Jerusalem expanded over the site
of the Holy Sepulchre in 41 A.D.
Therefore, the very latest
the tombs beneath the Church
could have been constructed was
ten years after Christ's death.
The time frame was narrowing
and for Professor Biddle,
the evidence was adding up.
This would have been
a very uneven, rocky landscape
with many, many small quarries
for large blocks of stone.
Between the quarries, areas
of cultivated ground...
The Gospels called it a garden
but it was a cultivated ground,
really...
And certainly rock-cut tombs
here.
We know of several
and, of course,
Joseph of Arimathea
had already made a rock-cut tomb
on this site
before the Crucifixion
took place.
So it's a Jewish cemetery
of the first century A.D.
in the middle
of a long-abandoned quarry
with patches of cultivation.
It's a remarkable piece of
confirmation of the authenticity
of the traditional site
of the burial.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
seems to have all the landmarks
of Christ's burial place.
But in 325 A.D., what allowed
the emperor Constantine
to identify that exact tomb
amid the rubble
and thousands of other tombs?
In the years immediately
after the Crucifixion
Christ's tomb may
have been easily recognizable.
But in the second century
it was completely buried
by the emperor Hadrian
who built a temple
to the Roman gods on the site.
The Biddles believe
that a reference to Golgotha
in a third-century book means
that part of the stone
must still have been visible.
But others disagree
and think that from the time
Hadrian built his Pagan temple
the site was completely covered
and forgotten.
200 years later, they say,
when Constantine began searching
there would have been no way
to identify the site.
These critics believe
Constantine could have picked
any tomb in any quarry.
He had recently made
Christianity
the favored religion of Rome
and had political reasons for
wanting to discover the site.
Constantine was creating
a new official religion
which had to look back
in its roots.
This religion had to go back
to its origins
and it had to create foundations
that there would be visible
to the world.
The tomb had to be discovered,
and it was discovered
in the middle of the city
of Aelia Capitolina...
A Pagan city...
And the Church was built over it
to show to the world
that this is the center
of Christianity
and, really,
it had become visible
that there was a victory here...
A Christian victory
over the Pagans.
I think such criticism
of Constantine...
That he needed a tomb
for political reasons
so he invented tomb...
Now, that's purely gratuitous.
I mean, there's not
the slightest bit of evidence
for that.
What I believe
is that there was a consistent
memory in Jerusalem.
Christians, of course...
Who venerated Jesus
as a holy man...
They certainly, in keeping
with the customs of their age
they would have gone
to pray at his tomb.
So they knew exactly
where it was.
And when Hadrian built
this temple to Juno, Jupiter
and Minerva... the Capitaline
Temple... right over that site
then, of course, the Christian
memory in Jerusalem
was intensified by bitterness.
He excluded their visits to the
tomb of their holiest person.
Then subsequently,
when visitors came
they were told... I presume with
great anger... "It's under there!
"Right in the middle
of the city!
"That's where he was crucified,
that's where he was buried
and, look, we can't get there!"
But even with directions
from local Christians
what made Constantine certain
he had found precisely
the right burial chamber
when he dismantled
the Pagan temple
and dug down into the cemetery?
What did he find
that made him sure he had
uncovered Christ's actual tomb?
Was there something
about the tomb
that differentiated it
from the others
that were discovered here?
The historian Usybias, who saw
the tomb when it was unearthed
said it provided clear
and visible proof
of Christ's Resurrection.
What clue had he seen?
The Biddles believe they might
find the answer not in Jerusalem
but here,
in the ancient city of Rome.
Like the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
Roman catacombs beneath the city
were important sites
of religious pilgrimage
for early Christians.
People came to pray
near the bodies
of early popes and saints.
Professor Biddle believes
that in addition to the bodies
these Roman tombs hold a clue
that would have
allowed Constantine
to identify Christ's tomb
back in Jerusalem
300 years after the Crucifixion
took place.
This is the crypt of the popes
in the catacomb
of Saint Calystus
about 40 feet underground,
just outside the walls of Rome.
Now, just outside the entrance
of this crypt
are walls with plaster
still surviving on it.
And this plaster is covered
with hundreds
of scratched inscriptions...
With graffiti, if you like.
Uh, not only are they up
and down the wall
but they're one on top
of another in different hands
and different styles
over a long period of time.
The reason that I wanted
to look at this
is because I think
that in Jerusalem
when the tomb of Christ
was uncovered in 325 or 326
what led Usybias to identify it
so confidently
as the tomb of Jesus... as
the place of the Resurrection...
Was that the walls outside
were covered with graffiti
just like these.
One of the most extraordinary
inscriptions here, I think
is this one, which says,
"Gerusale: civitas
et ornamentum"...
"Jerusalem: city
and ornament..."
"Martyrum Dei"...
"of the martyrs of God."
It takes us right back
to Jerusalem.
But what takes us even closer
is that here, just very faintly
between "Jerusalem"
and the word "ornamentum"
somebody in a later hand
has written in Greek...
"Anastasis"...
"the Resurrection."
It shows how these ideas,
although we may be in Rome
they're all part of a common
loyalty of Christian behavior
of visiting the places
of saints and martyrs
visiting the rock-cut tomb
of Jesus
leaving their prayers
and their names in graffiti.
Professor Biddle believes
the same would have been true
in Jerusalem.
The whole idea, of course, being
that the saints and martyrs
are physically present
in this place
where their bodies lie
as well as in Heaven
so that they form a bridge
between Earth and Heaven
and can carry the prayers
and wishes
of those who are praying here...
And who are scratching
their prayers and wishes
on these walls... up to Heaven.
And it's an astonishing idea,
but that is the whole idea
that lies behind the veneration
of the place
in which martyrs and saints
are buried.
So perhaps here in the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
deep within the ornate
outer shell of the edicule
lies a rock-cut tomb
whose entrance is scratched
with prayers and dedications
that identify it
as the tomb of Christ.
I think Professor Biddle's
theory that the tomb
was identified by Constantine's
engineers because the name Jesus
was scratched on one side
or the other...
I think that makes...
to me that makes perfect sense.
I think it's a brilliant idea,
because I live in Jerusalem.
It's a place
to which pilgrims come.
I have to give directions.
And the same thing would have
been true in the first century
where busy people with lives
to live and businesses to run
they would be pestered
by pilgrims.
"Where is the tomb of Jesus?"
And I say,
"Look, you see that big quarry?
"Go down there,
look along the west wall
and you'll see the name Jesus
scratched on one side."
Outside the Church, this
tradition of Christian graffiti
can be seen
on the 12th-century columns
that tower over the entrance.
Here hundreds of pilgrims
and crusaders
have scratched their prayers
into the stones.
If the Biddles' theory is right
and the tomb beneath the edicule
was marked in a similar fashion
Constantine would
have found evidence
that the burial chamber
he uncovered and then enshrined
really did belong to Christ.
But it will take
modern technology
and the removal of much red tape
to give the Biddles
the opportunity
to prove they are correct.
In an unprecedented gesture,
the various Church authorities
allow the Biddles to call in
a structural archaeologist
who uses thermal imaging
and endoscopic cameras
to look through old buildings
and reveal their inner layers.
Robert Demaus expects
the pictures he takes
to give a clear indication
of any structure hidden
within the edicule.
At long last, the Biddles
will have the chance
to look for the actual tomb
that they believe is there
and to prove that their earlier
three-dimensional models
of the edicules were correct.
When they began their initial
research, they thought
all that existed of the edicule
was the most recent
19th-century chapel.
But since then, they have found
much evidence that the chapels
were actually constructed
like nested Russian dolls
with four successive structures
from the fourth, 11th, 16th
and 19th centuries,
built one outside the other.
With his endoscopic camera,
Demaus will be the first person
to actually look inside
the walls of the edicule.
I can control the end
so that I can put it into the...
into the gap in the stone.
It is difficult to keep a sense
of scale, if not proportion.
Um, to give you an idea, I was
looking at a building in London
and came face to face
with what I first took
to be a three-foot cockroach.
I nearly jumped off
the scaffolding
before realizing that it was
a perfectly standard cockroach.
But I can see straightaway here
that there's enormous
potential for this
for creating
crystal-clear images.
There's a picture
of Elvis Presley.
Good gracious.
It's not Elvis Presley.
No, it's...
it's a picture...
These are little prayers
or thanksgivings.
Demaus's endoscopic camera
works within the walls
but his thermal-imaging system
takes longer
to reveal its secrets.
He will have to stay overnight
to collect thermal photographs
that can detail
the hidden structures.
The Church is closed
for the evening
but Demaus stays behind.
This is the best time
for him to work
as he will get the clearest
images of the edicule
once the body heat from the
day's visitors has dissipated.
This works to some extent
like an ordinary video camera
but we're looking at wavelengths
and the infrared range
rather than visible light.
And by that we're able
to detect very small variations
in temperature.
If you think of photography
as looking at variations
in shade and light,
then thermography
is basically looking
at variations in heat and cold.
Now, obviously with light,
you can see the variations
with the naked eye,
but with infrared radiation
you have to use
a very specific camera
to pick up that particular
wavelength of energy
and that's what
this camera does.
The back of the thermal-imaging
camera has to cool down
to minus 175 centigrade.
Um, this enables it
to be extremely sensitive
to tiny variations.
This particular camera
which is the most sensitive
portable camera available
on the civilian market, um,
is able to detect differences
as small as .025 a degree.
And particularly when we're
looking at a building like this
where there are very small
temperature changes
through the day
and through the night
and between different elements
of the building
that ability to pick up very
small changes is most important.
I'm looking always for changes
in the temperature
and the way that the heat
is flowing out of the panels.
Um, those with a lower mass will
tend to cool down more quickly
and those which have bigger mass
or are attached
to other structure behind
will tend to hold
their heat longer.
Demaus hopes the camera
will reveal some of the inner
structure of the edicule
but his pictures
will have to be processed
and carefully analyzed before
he can be sure he has succeeded.
It takes about a month before he
is ready to reveal his results.
He meets the Biddles in England
to show them what he has found.
Is it in the computer?
With what you're using,
you're better off...
The thermal pictures
from the Church show
that there is at least one
completely separate building
within the 19th-century
outer shell...
It looks much nicer straight on.
Just as the Biddles
had suspected.
It is a separate structure,
if you like.
The... the visible areas
of the edicule, um...
don't seem to be relating
to what's going on behind
and when we started looking
through with endoscopes
that certainly confirmed that
but there was
no visible connection
between the outer skin and what
we could see of what was inside.
The endoscope videos corroborate
what the thermal images
were indicating... that there
were inner walls within
but separate from
the most recent outer structure.
This isn't an area
that's actually moved out
very much.
Excellent.
So there's physically air
between the outer skin...
Everywhere we look
there is physically air
or very loose,
crumbling material.
Now, if that's the case
the inner, by definition
is going to be earlier
and these walls are so thick
as the photogrammetric
plan shows
and the skin is so thin
that there is
a tremendous
amount of space
which now I think
we can be sure of
does include
the remains of
earlier edicules.
The results from the thermal
and endoscopic imaging
confirm the Biddles' theory
that the remains of earlier
structures still exist
within the current edicule.
And they also provide evidence
that there really may be a rock-
cut tomb beneath the chapels.
The thermal camera shows heat
as red, and cool as yellow.
On the left side,
where the tomb should be
the temperature seems hotter.
This could indicate the presence
of the actual burial chamber.
Once again, the endoscope
reveals more details.
Quite clearly, in several
places, we can see cut stone
possibly even living rock from
which the original tomb was cut.
It's a remarkable result,
Robert.
There's much to do, but my
goodness, what a step forward.
The cameras have delved
farther inside the edicule
than anyone has ever gone
and revealed strong evidence
that the tomb exists within.
But for now, there is no way
to actually see what remains.
However, like the rest of the
Church, the crumbling edicule
will one day need
to be renovated
and when that time comes,
the Biddles are certain
that at least part of the actual
tomb of Christ will be found.
The exciting and extraordinary
thing is that after 11 years
of developing ideas
about the tomb of Christ
in the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
we seem to see these ideas
coming true.
There is a rock-cut tomb
surviving in some way
inside the present edicule.
There are remains
of earlier edicules.
And the whole tradition
of the site
whether it's place names
or historical evidence
is that this is, indeed,
the original rock-cut tomb
of Christ.
Next time, a mysterious kill Res
of the past at PBS Online.