Archaeologists Discover Rare Example of Roman Crucifixion in England

Archaeologists discovered what they believe to be the first example of crucifixion in northern Europe.

The skeleton of a man with a nail in his heel was discovered in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, east of France. England, by specialists from Albion Archaeology, England.

The archaeological team made the discovery while excavating a roadside settlement in 2017 in Fenstanton, which lies on Via Devana, a road connecting the Roman cities of Cambridge and Godmanchester.

There are several Iron Age sites in the area, but this settlement, covering at least 60,000 square meters, is believed to be a theft road from a Roman adventure, formed in the first or early second century AD, according to the experts.

Team Findings

The team discovered five small cemeteries and a few isolated sites, containing 48 individuals.

Among the Roman tombs at the site, archaeologists have discovered the skeleton of a man, aged between 25 and 35, with a nail in his heel.

Twelve nails were found around the skeleton, which experts say indicated it had been placed in a board or coffin – however, the 13th passed horizontally through the man’s right heel bone.

The man’s lower legs showed signs of thinning, possibly caused by infection, inflammation, or irritation from being tied up or chained.

“It seems implausible that the nail could have been accidentally driven into the bone during the construction of the wooden support in which the body was placed — in fact, there are even signs of a second shallow hole that suggests an unsuccessful first attempt to drill the bone.” explained the archaeologists in a press release.

“While this cannot be taken as indisputable proof that the man was crucified, it seems the only plausible explanation — making it at most the fourth example ever recorded worldwide through archaeological evidence,” they said.

There was only one other example of a nail going through a bone, experts said. Albion Archaeology.

This was at Givat HaMivtar, in north Jerusalem, during construction work in 1968.

nailed skeletons

Skeletons with a similar hole have been discovered at Gavello in Italy and at Mendes in Egypt, but without a nail in place or questions about how the holes were formed.

Crucifixion was relatively common in Roman times, but victims were often tied to the cross rather than nailed, and if nails were used, it was routine to remove them later,” they added.

“The remarkable fact about this skeleton is not that the man was crucified, but that his body was recovered after death and given a formal burial along with others, leaving us with this extremely rare evidence of what had happened to him.”

Excavation of the settlement also revealed sieges, far from domestic sites.

One of the enclosures contained many fossils from animals, suggesting a large-scale industrial operation where bones of cattle were split to obtain marrow and fat for the manufacture of soap or tallow for candles.

(Text translated, read original in English here)