A "Very Great Stone" from a Very Special Tomb

          As they continued to clear the area outward from the cliff-face, the layout of the building was found to be very simple. One wall ran parallel to the cliff-face, along the top of the elevated "platform" section of bedrock. Two exterior walls extended out at 90 degree angles from each end of this first wall.

          They began to dig, searching for the last wall when they came to another hand-hewn rock. It was a little less than 2 feet thick, and the portion that was extending out of the dirt and debris looked as if it were curved, somewhat like a large, thick rounded table-top. Clearing more from around it, Ron saw that it was of immense size and they decided not to continue digging. He theorized that perhaps this was the seal-stone from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea in which Christ was buried. If he was correct in his conjecture that this was an early Christian church building, perhaps they had incorporated this seal-stone into the actual building. It certainly appeared to be larger than any seal stone he had ever seen or read about. The largest that had ever been found, to his knowledge, was 5 feet in diameter. THIS stone would far exceed that.

          However, it would be several years later before he would learn it's true dimension- a little over 13 feet in diameter- when he used sub-surface interface radar from above the ground.

          MAT 27:60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled A GREAT STONE to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

           

          "In the Garden a New Sepulchre"

          In the same escarpment is the Garden Tomb which was discovered in 1867 when the landowner was digging a cistern on his property. As with the sites Ron was excavating, this tomb was beneath the ground level, buried in the debris of many, many years.

          When the owner discovered the tomb, he abandoned his plans for a cistern. When General Gordon of Britain visited the area and became convinced that the "skull face" in the relatively near section of the escarpment was the true location of Golgotha, this tomb became the prime suspect for being the tomb of Christ. It met with strenuous opposition from the traditionalists who were adamant that the Holy Sepulchre inside the city was the true site- but it soon gained some adherents.

          The "Garden Tomb"

          When completely excavated, it did indeed exhibit characteristics which proved it was dated to the 1st century AD, the time of Christ. But the subject that now concerns us is the missing seal-stone from this tomb.

          Directly in front of the tomb is a groove for a rolling stone. The width of this groove is about 2 feet, the correct size for the stone Ron found buried in the earth.
           

        (Above-"groove in front of "Garden Tomb")
         
          Another tomb from the 1st century (time of Christ) is that of Queen Helena of Adiabene. It is also located in the same general vicinity, further north, and the groove is exactly the same size as is featured in the Garden Tomb. Not only are the grooves for the seal stones identical in size, hers also contains an inclined section at one end at which the stone was rolled into the groove- exactly as does the Garden Tomb.

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