Below is a quote I had saved from a previous thread (I'm sorry, I don't remember who to credit for this) which discusses the the physical effects of hanging on a stake as compared to a cross. Basically a study in the '40s found that being suspended with your arms directly above your head (on a stake) would produce limited breathing capacity and asphyxiation within minutes. However, being suspended with arms outstretched (on a cross) one could breath comfortably for hours. Of course the Bible states that Jesus was alive for at least 3 hours, and those beside him for even longer.
Artful
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Austrian radiologist, Hermann Moedder, experimented with medical students in the 40's, hanging them by their wrists with their hands directly above their heads (much like the Watchtower pictures Jesus on a stake). In a few minutes, the students became pale, their lung capacity dropped from 5.2 to 1.5 liters, blood pressure decreased and the pulse rate increased. Moedder concluded that inability to breathe would occur in about six minutes if they were not allowed to stand and rest.
The same would apply to Christ, IF he were suspended on a stake as the Watchtower depicts him, hung from hands bound directly overhead. He would have suffocated in a matter of minutes.
Zugibe, however, discovered that if students were hung by hands outstretched to the side at 60-70 degrees, they would have no trouble breathing for hours on end. Since Luke 23:44 and Matthew 27:45,46 show that Christ was on the cross for about three hours, the evidence points again to death on a traditional cross.
