Archaeologists unearth extraordinary 20ft marble monument beneath Jerusalem church at centre of Jesus Christ mystery

Fragments of the ancient monument lay hidden beneath the present-day shrine, and researchers believe its rounded form may echo the original design commissioned by the Roman emperor Constantine.

The team has described it as the earliest archaeologically documented monument ever identified around the tomb.

The original church on the site became sacred in AD 335, after Roman structures were torn down to make way for it.

During that demolition, workers came upon a rock-hewn chamber recognised as the place where Jesus had been laid to rest, some three centuries after his death.

Constantine's builders deliberately carved away the surrounding rock to isolate this particular tomb from neighbouring graves.

The church standing today dates from a later period, having been constructed and restored between roughly 614 and 626 AD in the aftermath of the devastating Persian Sassanid invasion.

The surviving monument was assembled from repurposed marble slabs, meticulously cut and bonded with mortar to create a circular platform centred upon the burial chamber.

The marble itself offers further clues to the shrine's tumultuous history.

Faint remnants of decorative motifs are visible on two of the remaining slabs, with patterns that appear to post-date Constantine's era.

This has led archaeologist Francesca Romana Stasolla to suggest the marble may belong to restoration efforts undertaken after the Persian assault on Jerusalem in 614 AD, indicating the monument was rebuilt or repaired well after its initial construction.

Ms Stasolla, who led the archaeological analysis, noted that the approach to honouring the site had been deliberately restrained.

"The monumentalization was kept to a minimum, in an effort to preserve as far as possible the original appearance of the venerated Tomb," she explained.

The scholar also pointed to the possibility that knowledge of the tomb's significance was handed down through successive generations of early believers.

"It is nonetheless possible that the memory of this tomb had crystallised within the early community and had been transmitted across generations," she wrote in the excavation report.

The surrounding rock, she noted, had been purposefully hewn away, leaving behind what she termed "the chamber in which tradition recalled the deposition of Christ."

Such an unbroken chain of memory, Ms Stasolla suggested, may explain why this specific chamber was chosen for monumentalisation in antiquity.

The findings are set out in a comprehensive 605-page report drawn from excavations carried out between May 2022 and October 2025.

Researchers are currently analysing the mortar binding the slabs together, hoping to pinpoint when various elements of the structure were put in place.

Despite uncertainties over precise dating, the monument's circular form closely corresponds with early artistic representations of the shrine, reinforcing the view that the original construction was indeed round.

The identification of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the authentic site enjoys broad scholarly support, bolstered by the presence of first-century rock-cut tombs.

Some academics, however, contend that the Garden Tomb, a separate ancient burial site in Jerusalem, more closely fits the scriptural account.