How was Jesus Really Crucified?

Psalms 22:16 (17)

14. They opened their mouth against me [like] a tearing, roaring lion. 15. I was spilled like water, and all my bones were separated; my heart was like wax, melting within my innards. 16. My strength became dried out like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my palate; and You set me down in the dust of death. 17. For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me, like a lion, my hands and feet.

The historian Josephus, a Judaean who defected to the Roman side during the Jewish uprising of 66 – 72 C.E., describes finding two of his friends crucified. He begged for and was granted their reprieve; one died, the other recovered. Josephus gives no details of the method or duration of crucifixion before their reprieve.
Archaeological Evidence
Despite the fact that the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, as well as other sources, refer to the crucifixion of thousands of people by the Romans, there is only a single archaeological discovery of a crucified body dating back to the Roman Empire around the time of Jesus, which was discovered in Jerusalem. However, it is not surprising that there is only one such discovery, because a crucified body was usually left to decay on the cross and therefore would not be preserved. The only reason these archaeological remains were preserved was because family members gave this particular individual a customary burial.
The remains were found accidentally in an ossuary with the crucified man’s name on it, ‘Yehohanan, the son of Hagakol’. The ossuary contained a heel with a nail driven through its side, indicating that the heels may have been nailed to the sides of the tree (one on the left side, one on the right side, and not with both feet together in front). The nail had olive wood on it indicating that he was crucified on a cross made of olivewood or on an olive tree. Since olive trees are not very tall, this would suggest that the condemned was crucified at eye level. Additionally, the piece of olive wood was located between the heel and the head of the nail, presumably to keep the condemned from freeing his foot by sliding it over the nail. His legs were found broken. (This is consistent with accounts of the execution of two thieves in the Gospel of St. John 19:31.) It is thought that since in Roman times iron was expensive, the nails were removed from the dead body to cut the costs, which would help to explain why only one has been found, as the back of the nail was bent in such a way that it could not be removed.

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