When 12 boxes were found in a burial cave in south Jerusalem by archaeologists in 1990, a debate surrounding the crucifixtion of Jesus was sparked. Two of the boxes were inscripted with the word Caiaphas, which is the name given to the Jewish high priest who, according to the Gospels of the New Testament, was behind the crucifixion of Jesus.
But alongside the boxes were two nails, which have since been linked to the crucifixion of Jesus. The nails, one of which was found inside the box and the other on the floor beside it, went missing for two decades until Simcha Jacobovici decided to retrace the steps of the nails during an Amazon Prime documentary Decoding the Ancients.
He said in 2004: “If my hunch is right, and the Israeli archaeologists who were involved in the Caiaphas tomb suspected that the Roman nails found there had something to do with crucifixion, maybe they sent them to Professor Herzkowitz’ lab at Tel Aviv University.”
Later, he found his hunch was right and he located the nails in Professor Herzkowitz’ lab at Tel Aviv University.
After speaking with Herzkowitz, Jacobovici found that the nails could have been used for crucifixtion due to the way they had been bent, meaning they could have been placed into a person’s hand and through wood at an angle.
During the first century, people were often buried with items they thought they needed in the afterlife, and Simcha Jacobovici believes Caiaphas was haunted by his decision to condemn Jesus to death and so requested the iron nails accompanied him in his tomb.
This means they could well have been the nails used to crucify Jesus.
Since this finding, there have been recent discoveries of an ancient structure in Jerusalem that align exactly with thedescription in the Bible of Jesus’ tomb.
There is evidence to suggest that the nails could contain evidence of crucifixion with bone and wood fragments.
However, this it has not been possible to confirm that these fragments belonged to Jesus.
Geologist Aryeh Shimron, the lead author of research published in Archaeological Discovery in 2020 said the link to Caiaphas and the most recent evidence did not prove that the nails were used to crucify Jesus in Jerusalem in A.D. 33, but they certainly strengthened the claim.
The nails continue to be a source of debate and controversy as well as the identification of the Caiaphas tomb.
Since the original discovery, the identification with Caiaphas has been challenged by some academics who argue that the spelling of the inscription is not consistent, the lack of any mention of High Priest and the plainness of the tomb.
