As described family tombs were said to have been used from the bronze age in ancient Israel. They were hewn chambers or natural caves, and closed with a stone or stones. The tombs were often used for generations; bones being collected and put into as called burial boxes as time passed. Jesus was at first laid out in a rock cut tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, Arimathea being a city in Judea.
The burial procedure was that after a certain length of time the bones of the deceased were put away, often into burial boxes which were marked with the names of the deceased. The discovery of what Israelis were said to have believed to be the tomb of Jesus occurred in east Jerusalem in 1980. An unearthed tomb contained a particular burial box believed to be inscribed with the name of Jesus. DNA testing seems to substantiate that the human remains in the box were not related. Said to have contained the remains of three people. Sources say one inscription on the box read, ‘Jesus, son of Joseph’. Israeli experts believe this to pertain to Jesus Christ because of the absence of a place name which was normal practice at the time, and necessary in order to identify the individual. For instance Jesus of Nazareth or Joseph of Arimathea. Protocol might only have been omitted if the individual had become known to everyone. The tomb, said to have been found as the result of a pre-building excavation in 1980, was believed to be a little kept secret until 2007. Details unknown.
Some believe other human remains in the box may have been his friend Mary Magdalene. The third person unknown.