9.5 Inch Possible Roman Crucifixion Nail with Organic Remains

[Dakota Sioux]

I found this nail at a local auction 2 or so years ago with a bunch of other Medieval and church artifacts from Spain. Looking at it recently, I saw that it has what looks like petrified flesh under the head!! I wanted to show it for it seemed too amazing to be true. Hi I am new to the forum from near Sioux Falls South Dakota. I just bought a Garrett AT-Pro and love history and treasure hunting. I believe that much of history is waiting out there to be found even in this lonely state. -Doug

 

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[digger460]

 

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[Dakota Sioux]

Here is a closer-up

 

[49r Relics]

Would like to see a pic of the other church relics, if they are period pieces as well. I know that to this day, there are reenactment ceremonies where a spike is actually nailed through the hand of a person hanging on a cross in a crucifixion reenactment. They still do these on Good Friday in the Philippines and in Mexico to this day but there are reports of this being done in Spain as well in recent times.

 

[Dakota Sioux]

Here they are

 

[The Urban Prospector]

Wow!

My mind INSTANTLY says, "what if that spike was one of THE spikes that nailed Jesus to the cross.... Whew! Then my skeptical side jumps in and says, "yeah, but it was the typical form of Roman execution for a long time." Such a neat find!! Congratulations and thank you for sharing!

 

[49r Relics]

The other relics are amazing too. I assume the silver dollar was just for scale. Wish I knew more about these types of artifacts. Very nice collection/purchase. :-) Thanks for the pics!

 

[Plumbata]

I doubt it's an ancient Roman spike, more likely Medieval because it doesn't look like it was buried, and very few items from antiquity were kept indoors and decently protected until the present day, especially simple things like iron spikes. If it is indeed human flesh stuck in there I'd suspect it was used to spike enemy/criminal heads or limbs to walls and whatnot. Maybe used by Spanish Inquisitors to extract confessions of heresy. Interesting piece whatever the case.

 

[Dakota Sioux]

I think that may be a reasonable conclusion. Looking at it I believe it was never buried. I am going to get it examined by the Milwaukee Public Museum to start.

 

[romeo-1]

Looking forward to hearing the results of the examination...very interesting piece.

 

[pgfhgs]

Good luck and keep us posted

 

[ghost of scrounger]

How do you know its a roman crucifixion nail.
If so is type used at death of our Lord Jesus Christ ?

 

[Dakota Sioux]

It really is tough to answer that question, I think there is but one nail that is stuck through a heel bone discovered. I do not know that mine is that, just that I think its worth looking into it because it gave me chills when I discovered it.