From The Church Times-
AN ARCHAEOLOGIST who identified a first-century Roman nail, which has been claimed as a possible holy relic kept by the Knights Templar in Madeira, said last week that it could not possibly have been used in a crucifixion.
Bryn Walters, the director and secretary of the Association for Roman Archaeology, dated the nail as early Roman, after he was visited by two men from Worthing, Sussex. They showed him a highly polished nail, which was kept in a carved box.
Mr Walters said on Thursday of last week that he had been subject to criticism from colleagues, after a story had appeared in the national press, quoting a member of the Knights Templar of Britannia, who described the nail as a “relic from crucifixion”.
Mr Walters said that about seven weeks ago he had been asked to inspect the nail. “It was a Roman nail. There are millions of Roman nails, perhaps billions. It could not possibly be from a crucifixion be cause if it had been hammered in, it would have been bent — and this is dead straight.
“They did not tell me where it came from. I would not accept it as a nail coming from any crucifixion. It was perfectly preserved. It was four inches long, which I would say was a bit short for a crucifixion. A crucifixion pin could be longer than that.
“Most people were strapped to the crucifixion pole, and the nails were hammered in as added torture, but they did not hang by the nails. If the nail was hammered in, it would have had to be pulled out with something like a claw hammer before the body was removed, and that would have left it bent.
More here-
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=91055
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