The face of the only known man crucified by the Romans in Britain revealed

Experts have reconstructed the face of the only person known to have been crucified by the Romans in ancient Britain, the Daily Mail reports. The man’s skeleton was found near the village of Fenstanton back in 2017 and radiocarbon dating placed his death between 130 and 337 AD. The man’s face was revealed in a…

Dean Smith

February 4, 2024

1–2 minutes

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In his painting of the Crucifixion of Christ, Mihaly Munkacsy (1844-1900) has the nails being pounded into Christ’s feet, which is how the crucifixion is typically portrayed. It also portrays the crucifixion taking place on Tau crosses that looked like a capital ‘T’.

Experts have reconstructed the face of the only person known to have been crucified by the Romans in ancient Britain, the Daily Mail reports.

The man’s skeleton was found near the village of Fenstanton back in 2017 and radiocarbon dating placed his death between 130 and 337 AD.

The man’s face was revealed in a BBC documentary, The Cambridgeshire Crucifixion.

The man, who was probably a slave, was around 35 years old at the time of his death and about 5’7 (1.7 m).” Based on his DNA, he probably had brown hair and eyes.

The discovery of his remains solved another issue with the crucifixion of Christ. While many paintings pictured Christ being crucified by having a nail pounded through his feet, this man’s skeleton actually had a two-inch nail pounded through his heel.

This meant his feet would have been turned sideways to allow the nail to be pounded into the wood through the heel.

Many have questioned the paintings of Jesus’ crucifixion which typically portray a nail being pounded into His feet, suggesting that it would not have held. For the same reason, nails would not have been pounded into Christ’s hands, but rather into His wrists.