Footnote 4 – The Garden Tomb: Was Jesus Buried Here?

One of the finds was a conical object of white stone covered with small holes resembling windows. Some scholars identified the stone as having some connection with the worship of Venus. This “Stone of Venus” and some of the other objects Hanauer published were, according to Hanauer, probably manufactured by the excavator Beckholt himself, who carved them as souvenirs for tourists. The remaining objects published by Hanauer were unearthed by Beckholt in a pit he had dug somewhere on the premises of the Garden Tomb.