Fragments of nails that were believed to have been used in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ have ancient wood and fragments of bone on them, in a new study released last week.
The fragments first came to light after the 1990 excavation of a burial site of Caiaphas, the high priest who organized a plot to kill Jesus, according to the New Testament.
The nails mysteriously went missing but re-emerged after Israeli filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici said he found the nails that were used in the crucifixion in his 2011 documentary “Nails of the Cross.”
At the time, scholars slammed the suggestion, denying the nails Jacobovici had found were the same ones from Caiaphas’ tomb.
But last week a new study, headed by Aryeh Shimron, a retired Jerusalem-based geologist, concluded the nails were the same ones taken from the Caiaphas site, and were also used to crucify someone.
“Within the rust and sediment attached to the nails, we also identified and photographed a number of microscopic fragments of bone,” he said.”I believe that the scientific evidence that the nails were used to crucify somebody is indeed powerful,” he said.