Crucified Man of Giv'at HaMivtar (Yehohanan)

The skeletal remains of a young man named Yehohanan ben Hagkol, discovered in 1968 in a rock-cut tomb at Giv'at HaMivtar, a neighborhood in northeast Jerusalem. The right heel bone (calcaneum) was found still transfixed by an iron nail approximately 11.5 centimeters (4.5 inches) long, with fragments of olive wood preserved between the nail head and the bone. This is the only known physical evidence of a Roman crucifixion victim ever discovered. The remains were found in an ossuary inscribed with his name in Aramaic and date to the first century CE. The discovery by Vassilios Tzaferis of the Israel Department of Antiquities confirmed that crucifixion victims could receive proper Jewish burial — a detail consistent with the Gospel accounts of Jesus being buried in a tomb after crucifixion. The nail placement through the heel bone confirmed the Roman practice of nailing victims to a wooden cross. Initial analysis by Nicu Haas in 1970 was revised by Joseph Zias and Eliezer Sekeles in 1985, correcting earlier reconstructions of the crucifixion position.