Ancient, hidden layers under marble slabs found at site of Jesus tomb

JERUSALEM – In the innermost chamber of the site said to be the tomb of Jesus, a restoration team has peeled away a marble layer for the first time in centuries in an effort to reach what it believes is the original rock surface where Jesus' body was laid. Many historians have long believed that the original cave, identified a few centuries after Jesus' death as his tomb, was obliterated ages ago. But an archaeologist accompanying the restoration team said ground penetrating radar tests determined that cave walls are in fact standing -- at a height of 6 feet and connected to bedrock -- behind the marbled panels of the chamber at the center of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. "What was found," said National Geographic archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert, "is astonishing." The work is part of a historic renovation project to reinforce and preserve the Edicule, the chamber housing the cave where Jesus is said to have been entombed and resurrected.