Taking the Arab bus 1 down from the Kfar to the central Arabic bus station, I got off and walked right over to the adjacent Protestant holy site, the Garden Tomb. This aptly-named location was discovered a little over a century ago, by a British general during the Mandate period who carried his swagger cane in one hand and his Bible in his other hand. He was drinking (water or something stronger, I am not sure) on top of one of the hotels in Jerusalem, and suddenly he noticed an outcropping of rocks that sort of looked like a skull. Intrigued, he traveled over and examined the location, and then decided that he had discovered the true Golgotha (as opposed to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City). Over time, an old tomb filled with Crusader skeletons was discovered, and then when the Israel Antiquities Authority came in, they discovered the tomb was MUCH older, by approximately a millenium (so right around the death of Jesus). As such, and possibly because the Protestant clergy aren’t welcome in the Sepulchre), this location stands as a potential location for the crucifixion and burial of Jesus.
The most interesting piece of evidence I heard given for this location as the Tomb of Jesus is that there was a massive, isolated underground cistern discovered at the site, as well as the largest ancient wine-press in all of Israel. As the cistern is in the middle of the city, and would have been connected to the still-surviving water systems of yore otherwise, it was clearly used for a water-intensive effort… such as large vineyards. Joseph of Aramethia could well have been the owner of a vineyard in addition to other pursuits, and the site has evidence to support that part of the theory. I don’t buy the skull-shaped rock argument, and the “baptismal font” found near the Tomb also seems highly unlikely. Nevertheless, it is a peaceful place, and a beautiful one – it is just as much of a garden today as it was two millennia ago.
