Happy Good Friday! Well, maybe not so happy, but today is the religious holiday observed primarily by Christians in commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So they’re happy because they know he’s coming back. Or something.
Did you know at the Israel Museum there is a heel bone punctured by an iron nail that is the only tangible evidence for the practice of crucifixion to have been discovered so far in archaeological excavations? The heel bone belongs to twenty-something year old Jerusalem resident and Jew ‘Yehohanan ben Hagkol’, which was the name inscribed in his ossuary, usually a chest that was made to hold human skeletal remains. His was found in a cave and dates from 21 CE. Not knowing what led to his punishment, the find does indicate his feet must have been nailed to either side of the post, and not to its front. After he died, his body was taken down for burial. However, the nail that affixed his right foot had been bent, making it impossible to detach this body part, therefore some of the post was buried with him.
