The heel bone of a crucified man
Crucifixion in first-century Jerusalem is attested in the body of a victim — nailed, and then given ordinary burial.
Confirmed by the groundObject1st century AD
In an ossuary inscribed "Yehohanan son of Hagkol" lay a right heel bone with an iron nail still through it, bent at the tip against a knot in the wood. He had been buried properly in a family tomb. It remains the principal physical trace of a Roman crucifixion.
…a nail 11.5 cm long, driven through the right calcaneum, with fragments of olive wood still attached.
- Found
- A tomb at Giv'at ha-Mivtar, northern Jerusalem, 1968 — Vassilios Tzaferis's excavation
- Now held at
- Israel Antiquities Authority
- Language
- Aramaic (ossuary inscription)
- How it reached us
- Dug up, or still standing where it was built.
What it shows
It shows the practice, and that a crucified man could be released for burial. It has nothing to do with any particular execution. Early reconstructions of the body's exact posture were later revised.
How historians use it
The standard physical reference in any study of Roman crucifixion.
In Scripture
Connects to
Sources
- Tzaferis, "Jewish Tombs at and near Giv'at ha-Mivtar", IEJ 20 (1970); Zias & Sekeles, IEJ 35 (1985)
These summaries are written in English for now. Translations follow.