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Photo by Garo Nalbandian/Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb…” (Luke 24:1–2). The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) agree that Jesus was laid in a tomb that had a rolling stone closing the entrance, much like this Herodian-era tomb from the necropolis under the Convent of the Sisters of Nazareth in Nazareth. The Gospels also record that when the women came to anoint the body, the stone had been rolled away. In the accompanying article, author Jodi Magness discusses the burial customs of first-century C.E. Jerusalem and finds that the Biblical account of Jesus’ burial matches what we know from archaeological evidence.