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In 2017, a rare evidence of Roman crucifixion was unearthed in a small Cambridgeshire village called Fenstanton.

The heel bone of a man with a nail sticking through it was found while excavating a roadside settlement.

A team including University of Cambridge osteoarchaeologist Dr Corinne Duhiq says this may be the “best preserved” example of a Roman-era crucifixion anywhere in the world.

During the excavation of five small Roman cemeteries, the remains of 40 adults and five children were discovered, dating primarily to the fourth century AD.

According to the University of Cambridge, many of the remains exhibited signs of poor health, including dental disease, malaria, and physical injuries like fractures.

Among them was the skeleton of a man, designated as Skeleton 4926, whose right heel bone had a 5cm iron nail driven horizontally through it.

This male, estimated to be between 25 and 35 years old and around 5 foot 7 inches tall, likely lived between AD 130 and AD 360, based on radiocarbon dating.

Skeleton 4926 was found in a grave surrounded by twelve iron nails, along with remnants of a wooden bierm a platform believed to have supported his body after it was removed from the cross.

His bones showed signs of trauma, with indications of infections or inflammation in his legs, possibly caused by being shackled or bound.

Interestingly, the nail in his heel - dubbed the “13th nail” - was discovered only after his bones were cleaned in the lab.

A smaller mark next to the main puncture suggests that an initial attempt to nail him to the cross missed its target.

Although crucifixion was a common Roman execution method, physical evidence of the practice is incredibly rare.

Nails were often removed and repurposed, or victims were tied to the cross instead.

Dr. Corinne Duhig, an archaeologist at Cambridge, noted that the preservation of this particular nail offers a rare opportunity to study this form of execution.

She explained that even in remote settlements like Fenstanton, residents were not immune to the harshest punishments of the Roman Empire.

Crucifixion during the Roman era was a brutal and highly public form of execution reserved for slaves, rebels, and the most despised criminals.

Crucifixion likely originated with the Persians, but it was the Romans who perfected it, making it a staple of their legal system.

This form of execution served two key purposes: to maximise the pain and suffering of the victim and to act as a grisly public spectacle that would deter others from challenging Roman authority.

Victims were usually stripped naked, tortured, and then nailed or tied to a wooden cross, which could take different forms: the crux immissa (T-shaped), crux commissa (cross-shaped), or even a simple stake.

The process of crucifixion was drawn out, designed to extend the suffering over hours or even days.

Death came through a combination of factors: asphyxiation, shock, dehydration, and exposure.

The weight of the body pulling down on the arms made breathing increasingly difficult, while the legs might be broken to hasten death.

Some sources suggest a Roman guard would sometimes use a spear to pierce the side of the victim, ensuring they had died.

One of the most famous instances of crucifixion occurred after the slave rebellion led by Spartacus in 71 BCE.

After the revolt was crushed, the Romans crucified 6,000 captured rebels along the Appian Way, a road leading into Rome, as a grim warning to others.

For Christians, crucifixion took on a particularly profound meaning.

The execution of Jesus of Nazareth on a Roman cross became the central symbol of the faith, representing both the suffering and ultimate sacrifice of Jesus.

Roman records, however, suggest that Jesus was executed in the typical manner of political insurgents, crucified alongside two thieves, which further highlighted Rome’s use of crucifixion as a tool to deal with perceived threats to order.

As Christianity began to spread throughout the Roman Empire, the practice of crucifixion began to decline.

By the time Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in the 4th century CE, crucifixion was increasingly seen as barbaric, and it was abolished as an official form of punishment.

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