• Mark 1

  • Video Introduction to the Book of Mark

  • Gospel of Mark—Some Major Events

  • The Wilderness

  • John the Baptizer’s Clothing and Appearance

  • Locusts

  • Wild Honey

  • Sandals

  • The Jordan River

  • View of the Valley of Jezreel

  • The Wilderness of Judea, West of the Jordan River

  • Wild Beasts of the Wilderness

  • Casting a Net

  • Fish of the Sea of Galilee

  • Synagogue in Capernaum

  • Mark 4

  • Domestic Lampstand

  • First-Century Fishing Boat

  • Remains of a Galilean Fishing Boat

  • Jesus Calms the Storm

  • Mark 5

  • Cliffs on the Eastern Side of the Sea of Galilee

  • Mark 6

  • Staff and Food Pouch

  • Baskets

  • The Marketplace

  • Mark 8

  • Coin Made by Herod Antipas

  • Mark 9

  • Mount Hermon

  • Mount Hermon As Seen From the Hula Valley Nature Reserve

  • Upper and Lower Millstones

  • Modern-Day Valley of Hinnom

  • Salt on the Shore of the Dead Sea

  • Mark 10

  • East of the Jordan​—Perea

  • Mark 11

  • Bethphage, the Mount of Olives, and Jerusalem

  • Colt, or Young Donkey

  • Mark 12

  • Winepress

  • Tiberius Caesar

  • The Marketplace

  • The Front Seats in the Synagogue

  • Prominent Places at Evening Meals

  • The Treasury Chests and the Widow

  • Mark 13

  • Stones From the Temple Mount

  • Mount of Olives

  • Mark 14

  • Alabaster Jar

  • The Passover Meal

  • Upper Room

  • Vine

  • Mark 15

  • The Sanhedrin

  • Nail in a Heel Bone

  • Tomb Chamber

  • Mark 16

  • Codex Sinaiticus—End of Mark’s Gospel

  • Codex Vaticanus—End of Mark’s Gospel

The items shown in the illustrations and 3-D video footage in the Media Gallery are based on extensive research. However, they are artists’ renditions and, at times, depict only one of several possibilities.

Nail in a Heel Bone

Nail in a Heel Bone

This is a photograph of a replica of a human heel bone pierced by an iron nail that was 11.5 cm (4.5 in.) long. The original artifact was found in 1968, during excavations in northern Jerusalem, and dates to Roman times. It provides archaeological evidence that nails were used in executions to fasten the person to a wooden stake. This nail may be similar to the nails employed by the Roman soldiers to fasten Jesus Christ to the stake. The artifact was found in a stone box, called an ossuary, into which the dried bones of a deceased person were placed after the flesh had decomposed. This indicates that someone executed on a stake could be given a burial.

Photo Clara Amit, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Related Scripture(s)

Mt 27:35; Mr 15:24; Lu 23:33; Lu 24:39; Joh 19:18
Mark 1
Mark 4
Mark 5
Mark 6
Mark 8
Mark 9
Mark 10
Mark 11
Mark 12
Mark 13
Mark 14
Mark 15
Mark 16