[sinkspur]

There is documented archaeological proof showing the wear on the bones in the wrist that resulted from the nail. How could one tell from bones if the arms were tied? You can't.

If one was tied at the wrists, after hanging for some period of time, vessels could burst, and bones could even break.

Death would come quickly with nails; the Romans designed their form of crucifixion precisely so that death would NOT come quickly.

[Godzilla]

If one was tied at the wrists, after hanging for some period of time, vessels could burst, and bones could even break.

However, the source document does not indicate that, nor has any study/reading I've done confirm this.

Death would come quickly with nails; the Romans designed their form of crucifixion precisely so that death would NOT come quickly.

Nails didn't necessarly speed up the process, the key was nailing/fixing the feet to the post. The victim would hang by their arms to relieve the pain to the feet/legs until they could not breath (the normal cause of death was asphyxiation), then push up to allow the lungs to breath for as long as possible until the pain in the feet/legs took over. This cycle would continue for days until the victim was too exhausted to continue, then they would succum to asphyxiation.

[ZULU]

They have recovered skeletal remains of victims who were crucified. They used nails.