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Archeologist Amos Kloner claims that it isn’t historically probable that Jesus’ tomb had a circle shaped rock blocking it.
Kloner argues that we don’t find many circle shaped rocks blocking tombs during the Second Temple Period (first century BCE to 70 CE), actually, the opposite is true, we find a lot (98% of all the findings) of rectangular rocks blocking tombs.
This doesn’t make a lot of sense if you look at modern translations, as they translate the word "ἀποκυλίσει" as "to roll away". John is the only gospel who says the stone had been removed from the tomb (John 20:1).
However, it helps to explain how the angel sat on the stone after rolling (or moving) it. (Matthew 28:2)
According to Kloner, out of the 900 burial caves from the Second Temple period found in and around Jerusalem, only four are known to have used round blocking stones. Some people may argue that Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb was different, because he was a member of the Sanhedrin and very likely a rich man. But those kinds of tombs were destinated to really, really importante people, Kloner even cites some famous examples, like the Tomb of Herod’s Family and the tomb of Queen Helena of Adiabene. They seem to be in another level of wealth and importance.
Skeptical amateur historian Tim O’Neil (author of History for Atheists blog) argues in an older Quora post that this is evidence that the gospels after the 70 CE and that they were trying to fit Jesus’ story with the social context of that time. (I don’t agreee with this theory because it sounds kinda of speculatory and, according, again, to Kloner, we find many round stones from the late Roman to Byzantine periods (second to seventh century CE), after all the gospels were written.
Anyway, for more information this is the original article: https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/25/5/1
My main questions with this post are:
1 – Can "ἀποκυλίσει" be translated as "moved away"?
2 – Even if "ἀποκυλίσει" can’t be translated as "moved away", could the stone blocking Jesus’ tomb be square shaped?
3 – Any thoughts on O’Neil’s assertion? Does it make sense?
