Golgotha - Israel

Here's a question for those who've read the Bible: does Golgotha mean "place of skulls" or does Golgotha mean "place of a skull"?

I thought Golgotha meant "place of skulls" (plural) due to the skulls of past victims of crucifixion that must have been strewn about. But when I came upon the actual Golgotha in Israel, I searched my audio Bible and realized that Golgotha means the place of "a" skull (singular).

My photo (right), which is of a photo taken in the late 19th century, is of a cliff facing a major road just outside Jerusalem in Israel, the type of place where the Romans used to crucify criminals so that their gruesome handiwork could deter future crimes.

Westerners began to trickle back into Israel in the 19th century. Among them were Christians whose eyebrows were raised when they saw this skull-faced cliff.

Excavations inevitably began it its vicinity and soon enough, they unearthed a 1st century wine press and underground water cavern, both evidences of a garden having been present during the time of Jesus. And at the other end of this garden, about 100 yards from the skull-faced cliff, they found a first century tomb that had been cut into a rock, exactly as described in the Bible.

Travel Tip
One of the best thing I did to prepare for this trip was to load an audio Bible, which takes up only 1.1 gigabytes and takes only 73 hours to hear, into my iPod. You can download it for free here.