A new analysis of the Shroud of Turin, which appears to depict a man who was crucified, suggests that crucifixion involved the victim's hands being nailed above the head.
The findings suggest that popular depiction of the crucifixion of Christ, which shows his arms outstretched horizontally on a cross, is not necessarily how Christians have imagined it throughout history.
Matteo Borrini, from the UK's Liverpool John Moores University, claims that whoever created the Shroud of Turin thought crucifixion involved the hands being nailed above the head.
The Shroud of Turin is a piece of linen cloth imprinted with the faint image of a naked man with what appear to be streams of blood running down his arms and other wounds.
Some believe it is the cloth in which Jesus's body was wrapped after crucifixion. But reliable records of it only begin in the 14th century, and carbon dating suggests the Shroud is a medieval forgery, 'New Scientist' reported.
"If it's a fake, then it's a very interesting piece of art and human ingenuity," Borrini said.
Borrini wanted to know if the "bloodstains" on the left arm, the clearest ones, were consistent with the flow of blood from the wrist of a crucified person.
So he asked Luigi Garlaschelli of the University of Pavia, Italy, to assume different crucifixion postures, while a cannula attached to his wrist dribbled donated blood down his arm.
They found that the marks on the shroud did correspond to a crucifixion, but only if the arms were placed above the head in a "Y" position, rather than in the classic "T" depiction.
"This would have been a very painful position and one which would have created difficulty breathing," said Borrini.
Someone crucified in this way may have died from asphyxiation.
Borrini presented his results at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Seattle in February.
