I Was a Sunday-School Spy

✦ A study was performed to investigate modern-day perception of the crucifixion event and how people write about it versus what is documented in ancient texts.

✦ Several people from different Christian backgrounds (Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Non-Denominational) in two settings (Sunday-school class and Bible studies) were tasked to write paragraphs regarding the crucifixion.

✦ 100% mentioned nails used to attach Jesus to the cross.

✦ Roughly 50% to 60% emphasized the use of nails:

Explained details, and/or
Described “pain” Jesus felt. Some of these described excruciating emotions of pain, although three wrote Jesus took the pain without expression.

✦ None of the original accounts in the New Testament say anything about Jesus being nailed to the cross.

✦ When confronted with this, almost all of the participants were surprised.

✦ Why the difference in the modern-day written accounts versus ancient texts?

People today are fundamentally different? – Probably not to that level.
Not an important aspect of the crucifixion and, therefore, left out in original accounts? – If this is true, then why is it emphasized so much today and why did every modern-day writer include it?
Neglected to include it? – How can this be true for all four original accounts (presuming they were from different writers), while none of the modern-day accounts neglected to include it?
Some of the original accounts may have been based on hearsay and not personal witness? – True, but all of the modern-day accounts are based on hearsay.

✦ Is it possible the word-of-mouth perceptions of the crucifixion are different from the original event?

✦ An article from British Archaeology, Jan/Feb 2022 entitled, Crucifixion in the Fens: Life and Death in Roman Fenstanton, mentions the discovery of an ancient skeleton with a 5-cm (2-inch) long nail in a right heel bone (nothing in the left). Page 27 of the magazine (page 10 of the article) under subtitle "Crucifixion?" states:

...osteological evidence for the practice [crucifixion] is unlikely to be found [in general archaeology] because nails were not always used - the victim was normally simply tied to the crossbar - and bodies might not appear in formal burial settings.

✦ Page 28 of the magazine (page 11 of the article) states:

Nailing was not primarily for affixing the body, but for preventing victims from using their feet to ease the position during the hours or days leading to death... The short length of nail that emerged from the bone in the Fenstanton specimen is not therefore inadequate for its purpose, since it would have contributed to disabling the individual.

✦ Page 27 (page 10 of the article) goes on to say:

Just possibly the nailing was ritual anchoring of the corpse to prevent "walking", but a more efficient anchoring might be expected than this single nail inefficiently placed.

✦ The article states:

In only one other example is the physical evidence unequivocal [the Giv'at ha-Mivtar skeleton of Yehohanan ben Hagqol in north Jerusalem found during building work in 1968]. A skeleton from La Larda, Gavello, Italy has a pierced calcaneum [only in one heel], but no nail is present and the hole resembles root damage. A similar example from Mendes in Egypt is unpublished; a visiting anthropologist again sees root damage as the cause.

✦ The article does not address why the 5-cm (2-inch) long nail was in one heel only. The skeletal remains suggest a crushing-type accident on the lower legs and not a crucifixion. The right and left fibula are broken in several places, but both tibiae are intact. A crushing accident (something falling on the lower legs, possibly pinning the victim to the ground) could have driven a nail into the right heel. An injury labeled as a "misfire" in the article could have been another nail partially embedded from the accident, but then removed when the person was freed. If the person died from the accident, the fully embedded nail could have been left for any number of reasons (too difficult or gruesome to remove, or possibly not noticed due to the severeness of injuries, etc.). Twelve other nails were found in the grave in a rectangular pattern, suggesting a coffin or support bier. Such a careful burial configuration also does not suggest a crucifixion victim.