Proof That Jesus Existed: They Found the Nail Used to Crucify Him!

The four-inch long nail is thought to be one of thousands used in crucifixions across the Roman empire. Archaeologists believe it dates from either the first or second century AD. The nail was found last summer in a decorated box in a fort on the tiny isle of Ilheu de Pontinha, just off the coast of Madeira. Pontinha was thought to have been held by the Knights Templar, the religious order that was part of the Christian forces which occupied Jerusalem during the Crusades in the 12th century. The knights were part of the plot of Dan Brown's best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Bryn Walters, an archaeologist, said the iron nail's remarkable condition suggested it had been handed with extreme care, as if it was a relic.

"It dates from the first to second centuries," he told the Daily Mirror.

While one would expect the surface to be "pitted and rough" he said on this nail the surface was smooth.

That suggested that many people had handled it over the centuries, with the acid on their hands giving it a "peculiar finish".

Christopher Macklin of the Knights Templar of Britannia said the discovery was "momentous".

He said the original Knights Templar may have thought it was one of the nails used in Christ's crucifixion.

The nail was found together with three skeletons and three swords.

One of the swords had the Knight Templar's cross inscribed on it.

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17 comments:

Adrian said...

Ha ha! That's awesome!

Toss it in a box with all of the other nails and splinters from the cross and you can build a house.

Anonymous said...

Yep. The funniest relics I've already written about right here. That's some hard evidence to believe, right? ;-)

shane said...

is anyone seeing the error here?

If it dates from the first or second century how could it be Jesus nail?
He was apparently crucified at the very beginning of the first century!

He could have died a hundred years before it was used or made!

Susannah Anderson said...

Does it have the blood stains?

:D

Anonymous said...

jim, so there! ;-)

Brian_E said...

So did 3 knights die guarding it, or was this more like a tomb with a bunch of valuables (and dead people) shoved in it?

This really makes me think of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Who knows, maybe they'll use this find as the plot in the next film, since they seem to be making a never-ending series of em (should've stopped after Last Crusade).

Exploring the Unknowable said...

---

EVEN IF IT IS the nail that was used to crucify THE JESUS, who cares?

It doesn't matter whether or not he was killed. What matters is whether or not he rose from the dead.

Still no evidence for that, though, so who gives a damn about this nail.

Corky said...

Does anyone imagine that there would not be relics of Jesus? Of course there would be. Zealous followers would have saved every single one of them - from his sandals to his clothes to his sash. Even a cushion he sat on would have been sacred, including the table from which he ate his meals, everything he touched or had touched him would have been saved and treasured.

So, where are they? It's either that he didn't exist or that his followers did not consider him to be the actual Messiah and/or the Son of God until sometime later.

Chuck said...

That nail is kind of flimsy. That killed a person?

I knew Jesus was a pussy.

Anonymous said...

For the record and just in case, this nail proves nothing except that it was venerated early on in the first or second century, if that.

Clare said...

The nail looks quite similar to ones we got out of our old house when we were renovating. I have a box full of them. Maybe they would be worth something on Ebay if I said they were from Jesus' cross!

Anonymous said...

Time for DNA testing.
Oh wait, Jesus isn't in our database files.

No proof. Sorry Christians.

theunder said...

Does this mean we will see another Indiana Jones movie in search of the other two nails?

Ross said...

I don't buy into debates about the authenticity or otherwise of relics. For example, if I remember rightly, the James ossuary from a few years ago turned out to be a fake.

Corky, this is cut and paste from a website I set up.

John 20:24-28 tells us of how Thomas, one of the disciples, responded when the other disciples came to him with the news that Jesus was alive. Thomas was a broken man. He had spent three years of his life following Jesus, and it had cost him everything. He mourned deeply over the loss of his friend, and wanted to be alone. The other disciples came to him saying, "We have seen the Lord."

Thomas replied, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hands into his side, I will not believe it." Imagine his astonishment when Jesus came to Thomas and invited him to touch his wounds. He suddenly realised that it was true. Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he said he would. Overcome with emotion at this awesome miracle, he cried out to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" These words are very profound. Thomas acknowledged Jesus as Messiah and as God. Jesus affirmed Thomas for his belief in him, just as he did all those who recognised him in the same way.

Lyvvie said...

Rubbish! How could they date it so accurately when carbon dating can't be trusted, as fundamentalists protest. It's great when science helps perpetuate their fables.

Wonder if they'll consider trying to get DNA to clone Jesus.

Tim Coad said...

Really, it seems unlikely that this nail is one of "the ones"! And it doesn't m,atter - even if it was it would neither prove or disprove the reality of Jesus. What he does day by day in my life proves his living reality! Thats enough for me.

Nazorean said...

Whenever the faith waned relics like this were brought to Churchs across Europe. Most common were peices of wood suuposedly from the cross. However, the most common methods of proving that Jesus existed are quotes used by Christian Apologists.

While most Christians are taught that Jesus created the Christian religion, this is not so. The people who created Christianity are the people who wrote the scriptures. It is commonly accepted that the gospels were written sometime after 70 CE. The question is, Why did it take so long? A lot happened during this period in this corner of the world.

First we have the Pisonian Conspiracy in which members of the the powerful Roman Piso family conspire to assassinate the Emperor Nero and to create a new Jewish religion to compete with the Jewish religion of the Messianic Jewish Movement. They are discovered and executed.

Next we have Apollonius of Tyana making 2 trips to India. On his first trip he receives 9 manuscripts in Taxila which form the basis for the 9 Pauline Epistles. On his second trip to farther India he receives 4 documents about the seasons of life of the Indian Christ of the Tamil people which form the basis for the 4 gospels. It is interesting that the Pauline Epistles are the earliest Chistian writings and make no reference to Jesus of Nazareth. Neither do other early writngs such as 'The Shepherd of Hermes' or 'The Epistle of Barnabas.' The reason for this is that these texts were written prior to the time when the gospels were written. Now, we know that the Epistles of Paul supposedly date back to the 50s. Therefore, as of that decade no one had ever heard of Jesus of Nazareth.

It is only during the last decade of the first century and the beginning of the second that Jesus Christ is mentioned in quotes from St. Ignatius of Antioch and Clement of Rome. They mention his name, but know little about him. It was also at this time that the famous apologetics quotes from Suetonius and Tacitus were actually written. This is also the time that Josephus wrote the infamous 'Testimonium Flavianum.' All of these quotes were written after the gospels had already been composed.

So, there you have it. Prior the gospels being written there is not one single mention of Jesus Christ. Only after the gospels were written do we hear the name Jesus Christ mentioned. To learn more about how the Romans subverted the teachings of Yeshu and the Nazoreans and proclaimed them the revelations of their godman Jesus Christ visit: Nazoreans