Science has revealed the face of a brutally crucified slave 1,700 years ago

In 2017, archaeologists from the United Kingdom found in a Cambridgeshire cemetery the skeleton of a man who had a five centimeter nail crossed in the heel. It was a Roman slave who was crucified around the third and 2nd centuries d. C.
According to Live Sciencethe remains were found next to those of more than 40 individuals who showed signs of having done hard manual work. Several years later, and with the help of Forensic artist Joe Mullins, Its history finally had face thanks to a facial reconstruction.
An “almost unique” finding
Corinne Duhig, osteoarcheologist at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC That, apart from this, the only remains of crucified Roman individuals had been discovered in Israel. However, the one found in Cambridgeshire could be the example “Better preserved”From a crucifixion of the Roman era.
In the first analyzes, The researchers discovered that the man died between 25 and 35 years. They observed that the bones of their legs were thinning, which indicated that the individual probably spent a lot of time tied or chained. According to a statement from the University of Cambridge, the man was buried surrounded by twelve iron nails and next to a wooden structure.
The structure could have been the “coffin”In which his body could have been placed once he came down from the cross. Nail number 13 was the one who crossed his heel and the archaeologists discovered him while washing the bones in the laboratory. “The lucky combination of a good conservation and the fact that the nail was in the bone has allowed me to examine this almost unique example when so many thousands have been lost”Said Duhig.


Image | Factual impossible.
They manage to put face to history
Facial reconstruction was in charge of Joe MullinsForensic artist and professor at George Mason University in Virginia, United States. Through computerized skubtical tomographies and the use of a software Computer, Mullins managed to recreate the frame of the crucified slave’s face. “It was like putting an old puzzle“He declared a Live Science.
The researchers gave the artist a genetic profile compiled from the DNA of man. This helped Mullins add some details, such as skin and eyes. “With all this information at my disposal, the old puzzle was armed quite easily“, said.
“This man had such a particularly horrible end that it seems that when we see his face we can give him more respect“Duhig confessed. Mullins added that”Although he was not a pharaoh or a king, he was an ordinary person, and finally I can put face to his story“


What was crucifixion in ancient Rome?
We know that crucifixion was capital punishment for lower status citizens or humblewho could be condemned to this for serious crimes as betrayal of the country. It’s about “more cruel and disgusting of supplications“, according to Cicero, Well, by crucifying someone, he was not only looking to kill him, but dishonor him and emphasize its low social status.
Diego Pérez Gondar, from the University of Navarra, told the BBC that the crucifixion was “a combination of absolute cruelty and show to instill as possible in the population“. Although the Romans broke the legs of the crucified to accelerate their death, These could agonize for days before the gaze of other citizens. At that time they experienced problems such as suffocation, blood loss, dehydration and failures in different organs.
On the origins of this practice, Francois Rertief and Louise Cillier explain that it was invented by the Assyrians and then passed to the Persians around the sixth century AC despite the fact that it was a common practice in ancient Rome, Duhig points out that the evidence osteological is extremely rare, since nails were not always used and because it was forbidden to bury the bodies of those convicted of this penalty.