Scientists say a skeleton with a nail through its foot is rare evidence of a Roman crucifixion.
A report in British Archaeology magazine details the findings from a dig of an ancient Roman settlement in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, that dates back to the late first or early second centuryCE.
The skeleton of a man who is thought to have been 25 to 35 years old at the time of his death was found in one of the five uncovered cemeteries.
David Ingham, project manager at Albion Archaeology, told Insider that it stunned them. The group was back in the lab when they found the nail.
A nail was found in a skeleton. Albion Archaeology
The victim's feet were most likely positioned on either side of the cross's upright post, the feet fastened by horizontal nails through the heels, according to the British Archaeology article.
The nail was forced through the victim's foot during an ancient Roman crucifixion, making it the fourth-known such execution worldwide, and the best-preserved.
It is extremely rare to find archaeological evidence of crucifixion in ancient Roman settlements.
The first physical evidence of crucifixion has been documented. Two of the four executions claimed to have taken place had no nails associated with them.
The British Archaeology report states that a nail in the heel of a skeleton found in Jerusalem in 1968 is believed to be the same as the one found on crucifixion. The nail was kept in the foot of the skeleton because it bent and became stuck in the bone.
"Everyone knows about crucifixion through Christianity," he said. There were many different ways in which the Romans crucified people. The classic image is up on the cross, arms out, spread, feet together.
People may have been tied to the cross instead of being nailed.
Adam Williams is an albion archaeology.
The nail in the crucified skeleton's foot was not found until they were back in the laboratory.
When nails were used, they were usually removed from the body. The feet weren't nailed to the cross to affix the body. It may have made people unable to use their feet to ease their position, because they were being crucified.
It was reserved for the most serious crimes, but it was relatively common. "These were people who had fallen out of favor with the state, to the extent that they'd been crucified, because of crimes that threaten the state, particularly sedition, witchcraft, that sort of thing."
Family and friends may have been concerned about being associated with a persona non grata in local society, even a dead one, and failed to arrange a proper burial. The evidence of the execution would have been destroyed if it had been left above ground.
The Roman crucifixion is a subject that has been covered in historical texts and the skeleton from the Cambridgeshire area adds to that.
It shows that Roman law was still applied in the farthest provinces of the empire. The extreme west of the empire in Britain was a very disturbed place by the time that this person was living. There was a lot of political upheaval.
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