Misplaced Pages

Fringe theories about the Shroud of Turin

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Fringe theories about the Shroud of Turin" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (December 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on the
Shroud of Turin
1898 negative image by Secondo Pia (detail)
Full-length image of the Turin Shroud before the 2002 restoration.

The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth bearing the imprint of the image of a man, and is believed by some to be the burial shroud of Jesus. Despite conclusive scientific evidence from three radiocarbon dating tests performed in 1988 which resulted in the shroud being dated to 1260–1390 AD, some researchers have challenged the dating based on various theories, including the provenance of the samples used for testing, biological or chemical contamination, incorrect assessment of carbon dating data, as well as other theories. However, the alternative theories challenging the radiocarbon dating have been disproved by scientists using actual shroud material, and are thus considered to be fringe theories.

The Holy See received custody of the shroud in 1983, and as with other relics, makes no claims about its authenticity. After the 1988 round of tests, no further dating tests have been allowed.

Overview

The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man who is alleged to be Jesus of Nazareth. The cloth itself is believed by some to be the burial shroud he was wrapped in when he was buried after his crucifixion. The origins of the shroud and its images are the subject of multiple fringe theories. Diverse arguments have been made in various publications claiming to prove that the cloth is the authentic burial shroud of Jesus, based on disciplines ranging from chemistry to biology and medical forensics to optical image analysis.

In 1988, three radiocarbon dating tests dated a sample of the shroud as being from the Middle Ages, between the years 1260 and 1390. Some shroud researchers have challenged this dating. However, the scientific hypotheses used to challenge the radiocarbon dating have been scientifically refuted, e.g. the medieval repair hypothesis, the bio-contamination hypothesis and the carbon monoxide hypothesis. The highly-respected journal Nature put it in 1989, when writing about the radiocarbon dating: "These tests provide conclusive evidence that the linen of the Shroud of Turin is mediaeval." However, an article published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Archaeometry concluded in 2019 that "...it is not possible to affirm that the 1988 radiocarbon dating offers ‘conclusive evidence’ that the calendar age range is accurate and representative of the whole cloth" without a new radiocarbon dating test that requires "an interdisciplinary research, a robust protocol".

Proponents for the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin argue that empirical analysis and scientific methods are insufficient for understanding the methods used for image formation on the shroud, believing that the image was miraculously produced at the moment of Resurrection. Some proponents have argued that the image on the shroud can be explained with scientific evidence that supports the Gospel narrative. John Jackson (a member of STURP) proposed that the image was formed by radiation methods beyond the understanding of current science, in particular via the "collapsing cloth" onto a body that was radiating energy at the moment of resurrection. However, STURP member Alan Adler has stated that Jackson's theory is not generally accepted as scientific, given that it runs counter to the laws of physics, while agreeing that the darkening of the fabric could be produced by exposure to light (and all of the fabric will slowly become darker in the future). In 1989 physicist Thomas Phillips speculated that the Shroud image was formed by neutron radiation caused by a miraculous bodily resurrection.

Fringe speculations about early artworks and relics

The Image of Edessa was reported to contain the image of the face of Jesus, and its existence is reported since the sixth century. Some have suggested a connection between the Shroud of Turin and the Image of Edessa. No legend connected with that image suggests that it contained the image of a beaten and bloody Jesus. It was said to be an image transferred by Jesus to the cloth in life. This image is generally described as depicting only the face of Jesus, not the entire body. Proponents of the theory that the Edessa image was actually the shroud, led by Ian Wilson, theorize that it was always folded in such a way as to show only the face, as recorded in the apocryphical Acts of Thaddeus from around that time, which say it was tradiplon – folded into four pieces.

Ian Wilson, under 'Reconstructed Chronology of the Turin Shroud' recounts that the 'Doctrine of Addai' mentions a 'mysterious portrait' in connection with the healing of Abgar V. A similar story is recorded in Eusebius' History of the Church bk 1, ch 13, which does not mention the portrait.

Three principal pieces of evidence are cited in favor of the identification with the shroud. Saint John of Damascus mentions the image in his anti-iconoclastic work On Holy Images, describing the Edessa image as being a "strip", or oblong cloth, rather than a square, as other accounts of the Edessa cloth hold. However, in his description, St. John still speaks of the image of Jesus' face when he was alive.

In several articles, Daniel Scavone, professor Emeritus of history at the University of southern Indiana, puts forward a hypothesis which identifies the Shroud of Turin as the real object that inspires the romances of the Holy Grail.

To the contrary, Averil Cameron, expert of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford, denies the possibility of the Turin shroud being identified with the Image of Edessa. Among the reasons are too big differences in the historical descriptions of the Image of Edessa compared to the shroud. The Image of Edessa has according to her its origin in the resistance to the Byzantine iconoclasm.

Beneath a domed superstructure, a delegation of bearded men stands left, in the center, a man surrenders a cloth with the face of Christ to another man, who kisses it, while churchmen stand to the right.
The surrender of the Image of Edessa to the Byzantine parakoimomenos Theophanes by the Edessenes, from the Madrid Skylitzes.

On the occasion of the transfer of the cloth to Constantinople in 944, Gregory Referendarius, archdeacon of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, preached a sermon about the artifact. This sermon had been lost but was rediscovered in the Vatican Archives and translated by Mark Guscin in 2004. This sermon says that this Edessa cloth contained not only the face, but a full-length image, which was believed to be of Jesus. The sermon also mentions bloodstains from a wound in the side. Other documents have since been found in the Vatican library and the University of Leiden, Netherlands, confirming this impression. "Non tantum faciei figuram sed totius corporis figuram cernere poteris" (You can see not only the figure of a face, but the figure of the whole body). (In Italian) (Cf. Codex Vossianus Latinus Q69 and Vatican Library Codex 5696, p. 35.)

The Pray Codex. Shroud proponents cite it as evidence for the shroud's existence before the fourteenth century. Critics point out that inter alia that there is no image on the alleged shroud.

The Codex Pray, an Illuminated manuscript written in Budapest, Hungary between 1192 and 1195, includes an illustration of what appears to some to be the Shroud of Turin. Currently in the Budapest National Library, it is the oldest surviving text of the Hungarian language, and it was created at least 65 years before the earliest carbon-14 date in the 1988 tests. One of its illustrations shows preparations for the burial of Christ. The picture supposedly includes a burial cloth in the post-resurrection scene. According to proponents, it has the same herringbone weave as the Shroud, plus four holes near one of the edges. The holes form an "L" shape. Proponents claim this odd pattern of holes is the same as the ones found on the Shroud of Turin. They are burn holes, perhaps from a hot poker or incense embers. On the other hand, Italian Shroud researcher Gian Marco Rinaldi interprets the item that is sometimes identified as the Shroud as a probable rectangular tombstone as seen on other sacred images. He sees the alleged holes as decorative elements, as are also seen on the angel's wing and clothes. Rinaldi also points out that the alleged shroud in the Pray codex does not contain any image. Furthermore, it would be most unlikely that anyone who had seen the Shroud would have shown Christ being buried without any sign of the wounds that are so graphically shown on the Shroud.

In 1204, a knight named Robert de Clari who participated in the Fourth Crusade that captured Constantinople, claims the cloth was among the countless relics in the city:

"Where there was the Shroud in which our Lord had been wrapped, which every Friday raised itself upright so one could see the figure of our Lord on it. And none knows – neither Greek nor Frank – what became of that shroud when the city was taken."

(The apparent miracle of the cloth raising itself may be accounted for as a mistranslation: the French impersonal passive takes the form of a reflexive verb. Thus the original French could equally well be translated as the cloth was raised upright. De Clari's matter of fact delivery does not suggest that he witnessed anything out of the ordinary.) However, the historians Madden and Queller describe this part of Robert's account as a mistake: Robert had actually seen or heard of the sudarium, the handkerchief of Saint Veronica (which also purportedly contained the image of Jesus), and confused it with the grave cloth (sindon). In 1205, the following letter was allegedly sent by Theodore Angelos, a brother of Michael I Komnenos Doukas, to Pope Innocent III protesting the attack on the capital. From the document, dated 1 August 1205 in Rome:

"The Venetians partitioned the treasures of gold, silver, and ivory while the French did the same with the relics of the saints and the most sacred of all, the linen in which our Lord Jesus Christ was wrapped after his death and before the resurrection. We know that the sacred objects are preserved by their predators in Venice, in France, and in other places, the sacred linen in Athens." (Codex Chartularium Culisanense, fol. CXXVI (copia), Bilioteca del Santuario di Montevergine)

According to Emmanuel Poulle, a French medievalist, although the Mandylion is not the Shroud of Turin, the texts "attest the presence of the Shroud in Constantinople before 1204". But it was claimed that the letter of Theodore and other documents contained in the Chartularium are a modern forgery.

Unless it is the Shroud of Turin, then the location of the Image of Edessa since the 13th century is unknown but may well have been among the relics sold to Louis IX of France and housed in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris until lost in the French Revolution.

Some authors suggest that the shroud was captured by the knight Othon de la Roche who became Duke of Athens, sometimes adding that he soon relinquished it to the Knights Templar. It was subsequently taken to France, where the first known keeper of the Turin Shroud had links both to the Templars as well the descendants of Othon. Some speculate that the shroud could have been a major part of the famed "Templar treasure" that treasure hunters still seek today.

The association with the Templars seems to be based on a coincidence of family names; the Templars were a celibate order and so unlikely to have children after entering the Order.

Defective sample theories

Allegations have been made that the sample of the shroud chosen for testing was defective in some way, usually involving questions about the provenance of the threads: for example that the sample chosen was not from the original shroud but from a repair or restoration carried out in the Middle Ages.

Medieval repair argument

Although the quality of the radiocarbon testing itself is unquestioned, criticisms have been raised regarding the choice of the sample taken for testing, with suggestions that the sample may represent a medieval repair fragment rather than the image-bearing cloth. It is hypothesised that the sampled area was a medieval repair which was conducted by "invisible reweaving". Since the C14 dating at least four articles have been published in scholarly sources contending that the samples used for the dating test may not have been representative of the whole shroud.

Questionable provenance of samples

The medieval repair argument was included in an article by American chemist Raymond Rogers, who conducted chemical analysis for the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) and who was involved in work with the Shroud since the STURP project began in 1978. Rogers took 32 documented adhesive-tape samples from all areas of the shroud and associated textiles during the STURP process in 1978. He received 14 yarn segments from Luigi Gonella (Department of Physics, Polytechnic University of Turin) on 14 October 1979, which Gonella told him were from the Raes sample. On 12 December 2003, Rogers received a tiny fragment of what he was told was a shroud warp thread, and a tiny fragment of what he was told was a shroud weft thread, which Luigi Gonella told him had been taken from the radiocarbon sample before it was distributed for dating. The actual provenance of these threads is uncertain, as Gonella was not authorized to take or retain genuine shroud material, but Gonella told Rogers that he excised the threads from the center of the radiocarbon sample.

Raymond Rogers stated in a 2005 article that he performed chemical analyses on these undocumented threads, and compared them to the undocumented Raes threads as well as the samples he had kept from his STURP work. He stated that his analysis showed: "The radiocarbon sample contains both a gum/dye/mordant coating and cotton fibers. The main part of the shroud does not contain these materials." He speculated that these products may have been used by medieval weavers to match the colour of the original weave when performing repairs and backing the shroud for additional protection. Based on this comparison Rogers concluded that the undocumented threads received from Gonella did not match the main body of the shroud, and that in his opinion: "The worst possible sample for carbon dating was taken."

In March 2013, Giulio Fanti, professor of mechanical and thermal measurement at the University of Padua conducted a battery of experiments on various threads that he believes were cut from the shroud during the 1988 carbon-14 dating, and concluded that they dated from 300 BC to 400 AD, potentially placing the Shroud within the lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth. Because of the manner in which Fanti obtained the shroud fibers, many are dubious about his findings. The shroud's official custodian, Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Turin, told Vatican Insider: "As there is no degree of safety on the authenticity of the materials on which these experiments were carried out the shroud cloth, the shroud's custodians cannot recognize any serious value to the results of these alleged experiments."

Barrie Schwortz, a member of the original STURP investigation team, commented on Fanti's theory: "But it would be more convincing if the basic research had first been presented in a professional, peer-reviewed journal. If you're using old techniques in new ways, then you need to submit your approach to other scientists."

Contamination of sample theories

Various theories call into question results of carbon-14 dating, based on contamination by bacteria, reactive carbon, or carbon monoxide.

By bacteria

Pictorial evidence dating from c. 1690 and 1842 indicates that the corner used for the dating and several similar evenly spaced areas along one edge of the cloth were handled each time the cloth was displayed, the traditional method being for it to be held suspended by a row of five bishops. Others contend that repeated handling of this kind greatly increased the likelihood of contamination by bacteria and bacterial residue compared to the newly discovered archaeological specimens for which carbon-14 dating was developed. Bacteria and associated residue (bacteria by-products and dead bacteria) carry additional carbon-14 that would skew the radiocarbon date toward the present.

Rodger Sparks, a radiocarbon expert from New Zealand, had countered that an error of thirteen centuries stemming from bacterial contamination in the Middle Ages would have required a layer approximately doubling the sample weight. Because such material could be easily detected, fibers from the shroud were examined at the National Science Foundation Mass Spectrometry Center of Excellence at the University of Nebraska. Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry examination failed to detect any form of bioplastic polymer on fibers from either non-image or image areas of the shroud. Additionally, laser-microprobe Raman analysis at Instruments SA, Inc. in Metuchen, New Jersey, also failed to detect any bioplastic polymer on shroud fibers.

Harry Gove, director of Rochester's laboratory (one of the laboratories not selected to conduct the testing), once hypothesised that a "bioplastic" bacterial contamination, which was unknown during the 1988 testing, could have rendered the tests inaccurate. He has, however, also acknowledged that the samples had been carefully cleaned with strong chemicals before testing. He noted that different cleaning procedures were employed by and within the three laboratories, and that even if some slight contamination remained, about two thirds of the sample would need to consist of modern material to swing the result away from a 1st century date to a Medieval date. He inspected the Arizona sample material before it was cleaned, and determined that no such gross amount of contamination was present even before the cleaning commenced.

By reactive carbon

Others have suggested that the silver of the molten reliquary and the water used to douse the flames may have catalysed the airborne carbon into the cloth.

The Russian Dmitri Kouznetsov [de], an archaeological biologist and chemist, claimed in 1994 to have managed to experimentally reproduce this purported enrichment of the cloth in ancient weaves, and published numerous articles on the subject between 1994 and 1996.

Kouznetsov's results could not be replicated, and no actual experiments have been able to validate this theory, so far.

Jull, Donahue and Damon of the NSF Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Facility at the University of Arizona attempted to replicate the Kouznetsov experiment, and could find no evidence for the gross changes in age proposed by Kouznetsov et al. They concluded that the proposed carbon-enriching heat treatments were not capable of producing the claimed changes in the measured radiocarbon age of the linen, that the attacks by Kouznetsov et al. on the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the shroud "in general are unsubstantiated and incorrect," and that the "other aspects of the experiment are unverifiable and irreproducible."

Gian Marco Rinaldi and others proved that Kouznetsov never performed the experiments described in his papers, citing non-existent fonts and sources, including the museums from which he claimed to have obtained the samples of ancient weaves on which he performed the experiments.

Kouznetsov was arrested in 1997 on American soil under allegations of accepting bribes by magazine editors to produce manufactured evidence and false reports.

By carbon monoxide in smoke

In 2008, John Jackson of the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado proposed a new hypothesis – namely the possibility of more recent enrichment if carbon monoxide were to slowly interact with a fabric so as to deposit its enriched carbon into the fabric, interpenetrating into the fibrils that make up the cloth. Jackson proposed to test if this were actually possible. Christopher Ramsey, the director of the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, took the theory seriously and agreed to collaborate with Jackson in testing a series of linen samples that could determine if the case for the Shroud's authenticity should be re-opened. Before conducting the tests, he told the BBC that "With the radiocarbon measurements and with all of the other evidence which we have about the Shroud, there does seem to be a conflict in the interpretation of the different evidence." Ramsey stressed that he would be surprised if the results of the 1988 tests were shown to be far out – especially "a thousand years wrong" – but he insisted that he was keeping an open mind.

The results of the tests were to form part of a documentary on the Turin Shroud which was to be broadcast on BBC2. The producer of the 2008 documentary, David Rolfe, suggested that the quantity of carbon 14 found on the weave may have been significantly affected by the weather, the conservation methods employed throughout the centuries, as well as the volatile carbon generated by the fire that damaged the shroud while in Savoy custody at Chambéry. Other similar theories include that candle smoke (rich in carbon dioxide) and the volatile carbon molecules produced during the two fires may have altered the carbon content of the cloth, rendering carbon-dating unreliable as a dating tool.

In March 2008, Ramsey reported back on the testing that: "So far the linen samples have been subjected to normal conditions (but with very high concentrations of carbon monoxide). These initial tests show no significant reaction – even though the sensitivity of the measurements is sufficient to detect contamination that would offset the age by less than a single year. This is to be expected and essentially confirms why this sort of contamination has not been considered a serious issue before." He noted that carbon monoxide does not undergo significant reactions with linen which could result in an incorporation of a significant number of CO molecules into the cellulose structure. He also added that there is as yet no direct evidence to suggest the original radiocarbon dates are not accurate.

In 2011, Ramsey commented that in general "there are various hypotheses as to why the dates might not be correct, but none of them stack up."

Response to restoration claims

The official report of the dating process, written by the people who performed the sampling, states that the sample "came from a single site on the main body of the shroud away from any patches or charred areas."

As part of the testing process in 1988, a Derbyshire laboratory in England assisted the University of Oxford radiocarbon acceleration unit by identifying foreign material removed from the samples before they were processed. Edward Thomas Hall of the Oxford team noticed two or three "minute" fibers which looked "out of place", and those "minute" fibers were identified as cotton by Peter South (textile expert of the Derbyshire laboratory) who said: "It may have been used for repairs at some time in the past, or simply became bound in when the linen fabric was woven. It may not have taken us long to identify the strange material, but it was unique amongst the many and varied jobs we undertake."

Mechthild Flury-Lemberg is an expert in the restoration of textiles, who headed the restoration and conservation of the Turin Shroud in 2002. She has rejected the theory of the "invisible reweaving", pointing out that it would be technically impossible to perform such a repair without leaving traces, and that she found no such traces in her study of the shroud.

H. E. Gove, former professor emeritus of physics at the University of Rochester and former director of the Nuclear Structure Research Laboratory at the University of Rochester, helped to invent radiocarbon dating and was closely involved in setting up the shroud dating project. He also attended the actual dating process at the University of Arizona. Gove has written (in the respected scientific journal Radiocarbon) that: "Another argument has been made that the part of the shroud from which the sample was cut had possibly become worn and threadbare from countless handlings and had been subjected to medieval textile restoration. If so, the restoration would have had to be done with such incredible virtuosity as to render it microscopically indistinguishable from the real thing. Even modern so-called invisible weaving can readily be detected under a microscope, so this possibility seems unlikely. It seems very convincing that what was measured in the laboratories was genuine cloth from the shroud after it had been subjected to rigorous cleaning procedures. Probably no sample for carbon dating has ever been subjected to such scrupulously careful examination and treatment, nor perhaps ever will again."

In December 2010, Timothy Jull, a member of the original 1988 radiocarbon-dating team and editor of the peer-reviewed journal Radiocarbon, coauthored an article in that journal with Rachel A Freer-Waters. They examined a portion of the radiocarbon sample that was left over from the section used by the University of Arizona in 1988 for the carbon dating exercise, and were assisted by the director of the Gloria F Ross Center for Tapestry Studies. They viewed the fragment using a low magnification (~30×) stereo microscope, as well as under high magnification (320×) viewed through both transmitted light and polarized light, and then with epifluorescence microscopy. They found "only low levels of contamination by a few cotton fibers" and no evidence that the samples actually used for measurements in the C14 dating processes were dyed, treated, or otherwise manipulated. They concluded that the radiocarbon dating had been performed on a sample of the original shroud material.

Statistical analyses

In 2010, statisticians Marco Riani and Anthony C. Atkinson wrote in a scientific paper that the statistical analysis of the raw dates obtained from the three laboratories for the radiocarbon test suggests the presence of contamination in some of the samples. They conclude that: "The effect is not large over the sampled region; ... our estimate of the change is about two centuries."

In recent years several statistical analyses have been conducted on the radiocarbon dating data, attempting to draw some conclusions about the reliability of the C14 dating from studying the data rather than studying the shroud itself. They have all concluded that the data shows a lack of homogeneity, which might be due to unidentified abnormalities in the fabric tested, or else might be due to differences in the pre-testing cleaning processes used by the different laboratories. The most recent analysis (2020) concludes that the stated date range needs to be adjusted by up to 88 years in order to properly meet the requirement of "95% confidence".

In 1994, J. A. Christen applied a strong statistical test to the radiocarbon data and concluded that the given age for the shroud is, from a statistical point of view, correct.

However critics claim to have identified statistical errors in the conclusions published in Nature: including: the actual standard deviation for the Tucson study was 17 years, not 31, as published; the chi-square distribution value is 8.6 rather than 6.4, and the relative significance level (which measures the reliability of the results) is close to 1% – rather than the published 5%, which is the minimum acceptable threshold.

In a 2020 paper, respected pro-authenticity advocates Bryan Walsh and Larry Schwalbe stated in the Discussion section as follows:

  • "At this time, the source of the statistical heterogeneity of the Shroud data is unknown, but one of two broad hypotheses could reasonably account for the effect. One is that some differences may have existed in either the sample processing or measurement protocols of the different laboratories. The other is that some inherent variation was present in the carbon isotopic composition of the Shroud sample itself ...
  • "An alternate hypothesis is that some difference in residual contamination may have occurred as a result of differences in the individual laboratories' cleaning procedures ...
  • "In support of the contamination hypothesis, Fig. 4 illustrates how the mean results from the Zurich and Tucson data (open symbols) agree within their calculated experimental error (note level B-B′), whereas that from Oxford does not (A-A′). If the Zurich and Tucson data were displaced upward by 88 RCY as shown in the figure all of the results would agree within the uncertainty observed. Indeed, if the magnitude of the "adjustment" were as small as ~10 RCY, the χ2 analysis would confirm a statistical homogeneity assuming the uncertainties in the data did not change."

Vanillin loss theory

Raymond Rogers argued in the scientific journal Thermochimica Acta that the presence of vanillin differed markedly between the unprovenanced threads he was looking at, which contained 37% of the original vanillin, while the body of the shroud contained 0% of the original vanillin. He stated that: "The fact that vanillin cannot be detected in the lignin on shroud fibers, Dead Sea Scrolls linen, and other very old linens indicate that the shroud is quite old. A determination of the kinetics of vanillin loss suggest the shroud is between 1300 and 3000 years old. Even allowing for errors in the measurements and assumptions about storage conditions, the cloth is unlikely to be as young as 840 years".

In a 2020 paper, pro-authenticity advocates Bryan Walsh and Larry Schwalbe stated of this test that "Rogers' method has limitations and his results have not yet been widely accepted." Rogers' analysis is also questioned by skeptics such as Joe Nickell, who reasons that the conclusions of the author, Raymond Rogers, result from "starting with the desired conclusion and working backward to the evidence".

Claims of writing on the Shroud

A late 19th-century photograph of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud

In 1979 Greek and Latin letters were reported as written near the face. These were further studied by André Marion, a professor at the École supérieure d'optique and his student Anne Laure Courage, in 1997. Subsequently, after performing computerized analysis and microdensitometer studies, they reported finding additional inscriptions, among them INNECEM (a shortened form of Latin "in necem ibis"—"you will go to death"), NNAZAPE(N)NUS (Nazarene), IHSOY (Jesus) and IC (Iesus Chrestus). The uncertain letters IBE(R?) have been conjectured as "Tiberius". Linguist Mark Guscin disputed the reports of Marion and Courage. He stated that the inscriptions made little grammatical or historical sense and that they did not appear on the slides that Marion and Courage indicated.

In 2009, Barbara Frale, a paleographer in the Vatican Secret Archives, who had published two books on the Shroud of Turin reported further analysis of the text. In her books Frale had stated that the shroud had been kept by the Templars after 1204. In 2009 Frale stated that it is possible to read on the image the burial certificate of Jesus the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth, imprinted in fragments of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin writing.

Frale stated the text on the Shroud reads: "In the year 16 of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Jesus the Nazarene, taken down in the early evening after having been condemned to death by a Roman judge because he was found guilty by a Hebrew authority, is hereby sent for burial with the obligation of being consigned to his family only after one full year." Since Tiberius became emperor after the death of Octavian Augustus in AD 14, the 16th year of his reign would be within the span of the years AD 30 to 31. Frale's methodology has been criticized, partly based on the objection that the writings are too faint to see. Dr Antonio Lombatti, an Italian historian, rejected the idea that the authorities would have bothered to tag the body of a crucified man. He stated that "It's all the result of imagination and computer software."

A study by Lorusso et al. subjected two photographs of the shroud to digital image processing, one of them being a reproduction of the photographic negative taken by Giuseppe Enrie in 1931. They did not find any signs, symbols or writing on either image, and noted that these signs may be linked to protuberances in the yarn, as well possibly as to the alteration and influence of the texture of the Enrie photographic negative during its development in 1931.

Images of coins theory

Researchers Jackson, Jumper, and Stephenson report detecting the impressions of coins placed on both eyes after a digital study in 1978. They claimed to have seen a two-lepton coin on the right eyelid dating from 29–30, and a one-lepton coin on the left eyebrow minted in 29. The existence of the coin images is rejected by most scientists. A study published in 2011 by Lorusso and others subjected two photographs of the shroud to detailed modern digital image processing, one of them being a reproduction of the photographic negative taken by Giuseppe Enrie in 1931. They did not find any images of flowers or coins or any other additional objects on the shroud in either photograph, they noted that the faint images identified by the Whangers were "only visible by incrementing the photographic contrast", and they concluded that these signs may be linked to protuberances in the yarn, and possibly also to the alteration and influence of the texture of the Enrie photographic negative during its development in 1931. The use of coins to cover the eyes of the dead is not attested for 1st-century Palestine.

Pollens and images of flowers theory

In 1997 Avinoam Danin, a botanist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, reported that he had identified Chrysanthemum coronarium (now called Glebionis coronaria), Cistus creticus and Zygophyllum whose pressed image on the shroud was first noticed by Alan Whanger in 1985 on the photographs of the shroud taken in 1931. He reported that the outlines of the flowering plants would point to March or April and the environs of Jerusalem. In a separate report in 1978 Danin and Uri Baruch reported on the pollen grains on the cloth samples, stating that they were appropriate to the spring in Israel. Max Frei, a Swiss police criminologist who initially obtained pollen from the shroud during the STURP investigation, stated that of the 58 different types of pollens found, 45 were from the Jerusalem area, while six were from the eastern Middle East, with one pollen species growing exclusively in Istanbul, and two found in Edessa, Turkey. Mark Antonacci argues that the pollen evidence and flower images are inherently interwoven and strengthen each other.

In 2008 Avinoam Danin reported analysis based on the ultraviolet photographs of Miller and Pellicori taken in 1978. Danin reported five new species of flower, which also bloom in March and April and stated that a comparison of the 1931 black and white photographs and the 1978 ultraviolet images indicate that the flower images are genuine and not the artifact of a specific method of photography.

However Danin stated in 2011, that: "In 2001 we brought most of the slides to Prof. Dr. Thomas Litt who is an expert palynologist and has very sophisticated microscopic equipment. Prof. Litt concluded that none of the pollen grains he saw could be named at a species level. Hence, all the conclusions drawn from previous palynological investigations of Dr. Frei's material should be suspended until a new collection of pollen grains can be carried out and the grains thus obtained can be studied with modern equipment and by an expert of pollen of this area."

Skeptics have argued that the flower images are too faint for Danin's determination to be definite, that an independent review of the pollen strands showed that one strand out of the 26 provided contained significantly more pollen than the others, perhaps pointing to deliberate contamination. Skeptics also argue that Max Frei had previously been duped in his examination of the Hitler Diaries and that he may have also been duped in this case, or may have introduced the pollens himself. J. Beaulieau has stated that Frei was a self-taught amateur palynologist, was not properly trained, and that his sample was too small.

A study published in 2011 by professor Salvatore Lorusso of the University of Bologna and others subjected two photographs of the shroud to detailed modern digital image processing, one of them being a reproduction of the photographic negative taken by Giuseppe Enrie in 1931. They did not find any images of flowers or coins or anything else on either image, they noted that the faint images identified by the Whangers were "only visible by incrementing the photographic contrast", and they concluded that these signs may be linked to protuberances in the yarn, and possibly also to the alteration and influence of the texture of the Enrie photographic negative during its development in 1931.

In 2015, Italian researchers Barcaccia et al. published a new study in Scientific Reports. They examined the human and non-human DNA found when the shroud and its backing cloth were vacuumed in 1977 and 1988. They found traces of 19 different plant taxa, including plants native to Mediterranean countries, Central Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Asia (China) and the Americas. Of the human mtDNA, sequences were found belonging to haplogroups that are typical of various ethnicities and geographic regions, including Europe, North and East Africa, the Middle East and India. A few non-plant and non-human sequences were also detected, including various birds and one ascribable to a marine worm common in the Northern Pacific Ocean, next to Canada. After sequencing some DNA of pollen and dust found on the shroud, they confirmed that many people from many different places came in contact with the shroud. According to the scientists, "such diversity does not exclude a Medieval origin in Europe but it would be also compatible with the historic path followed by the Turin Shroud during its presumed journey from the Near East. Furthermore, the results raise the possibility of an Indian manufacture of the linen cloth."

3D Imaging

In 1976 Pete Schumacher, John Jackson and Eric Jumper analysed a photograph of the shroud image using a VP8 Image Analyzer, which was developed for NASA to create brightness maps of the moon. A brightness map (isometric display) interprets differences of brightness within an image as differences of elevation—brighter patches are seen as being closer to the camera and darker patches as farther away. Our minds interpret these gradients as a "pseudo-three-dimensional image". They found that, unlike any photograph they had analyzed, the shroud image has the property of decoding into a 3-dimensional image, when the darker parts of the image are interpreted to be those features of the man that were closest to the shroud and the lighter areas of the image those features that were farthest. The researchers could not replicate the effect when they attempted to transfer similar images using techniques of block print, engravings, a hot statue, and bas-relief.

Optical physicist and former STURP member John Dee German has noted that it is not difficult to make a photograph which has 3D qualities. If the object being photographed is lighted from the front, and a non-reflective "fog" of some sort exists between the camera and the object, then less light will reach and reflect back from the portions of the object that are farther from the lens, thus creating a contrast which is dependent on distance.

Energy source theories

Since 1930 several researchers (J. Jackson, G. Fanti, T. Trenn, T. Phillips, J.-B. Rinaudo and others) endorsed the flash-like irradiation hypothesis. It was suggested that the relatively high definition of the image details can be obtained through the energy source (specifically, protonic) acting from inside. The Russian researcher Alexander Belyakov proposed an intense, but short flashlight source, which lasted some hundredths of a second. Some other authors suggest the X-radiation or a burst of directional ultraviolet radiation may have played a role in the formation of the Shroud image. From the image characteristics, several researchers have theorized that the radiant source was prevalently vertical. These theories do not include the scientific discussion of a method by which the energy could have been produced.

Corona discharge

During restoration in 2002, the back of the cloth was photographed and scanned for the first time. Giulio Fanti, a scientist at the University of Padua, wrote an article on this subject with colleagues in 2005 that envisages electrostatic corona discharge as the probable mechanism to produce the images of the body in the Shroud. Congruent with that mechanism, they also describe an image on the reverse side of the fabric, much fainter than that on the front view of the body, consisting primarily of the face and perhaps hands. As with the front picture, it is entirely superficial, with coloration limited to the carbohydrate layer. The images correspond to, and are in registration with, those on the other side of the cloth. No image is detectable in the reverse side of the dorsal view of the body.

Raymond Rogers criticized the theory, saying: "It is clear that a corona discharge (plasma) in air will cause easily observable changes in a linen sample. No such effects can be observed in image fibers from the Shroud of Turin. Corona discharges and/or plasmas made no contribution to image formation."

In December 2011, Fanti published a critical compendium of the major hypotheses regarding the formation of the body image on the shroud. He stated that "none of them can completely explain the mysterious image". Fanti then considered corona discharge as the most probable hypothesis regarding the formation of the body image. He stated that it would be impossible to reproduce all the characteristics of the image in a laboratory because the energy source required would be too high. Fanti has restated the radiation theories in a 2013 book.

Ultraviolet radiation

In December 2011 scientists at Italy's National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Development ENEA deduced from the STURP results that the color of the Shroud image is the result of an accelerated aging process of the linen, similar to the yellowing of the paper of ancient books. They demonstrated that the photochemical reactions caused by exposing linen to ultraviolet light could reproduce the main characteristics of the Shroud image, such as the shallowness of the coloration and the gradient of the color, which are not reproducible by other means. When subsequently illuminated with a UV lamp, the irradiated linen fabrics behaved like the linen of the Shroud. They also determined that UV radiation changes the crystalline structure of cellulose in a similar manner as aging and long-duration background radiation.

Paolo Di Lazzaro, the lead researcher, indicated in an e-mail interview that "... it appears unlikely a forger may have done this image with technologies available in the Middle Ages or earlier", but their study does not mean the Shroud image was created by the flash of a miraculous resurrection, contrary to how the story was presented in the media, especially on the Web. Professional skeptic Joe Nickell states that the latest findings are nothing new despite being "dressed up in high-tech tests", and that they don't prove much of anything.

Burial ointments theory

In November 2011, F. Curciarello et al. published a paper that analyzed the abrupt changes in the yellowed fibril density values on the Shroud image. They concluded that the rapid changes in the body image intensity are not anomalies in the manufacturing process of the linen but that they can be explained with the presence of aromas or burial ointments. However, their work leaves the existence of an energy source for the image an open question.

Other theories

Other theories have been proposed as well, such as the nuclear emissions theory which claims that the image was formed from nuclear emissions from an earthquake that struck Jerusalem in 33 AD.

Fringe dating

There has been some fringe dating of the Shroud. According to a recent study (2024) by Italian researchers (De Caro et al), who invented a new technique involving X-rays to date the material, the Shroud was made in the time of Jesus about 2,000 years ago. However, the authors stress that the accuracy of these results is dependent on the relic having been kept safely at an average room temperature of around 22°C (71.6 °F) with a relative humidity of about 55 percent for 1,300 years before it appeared in the historical record, and during which time it’s whereabouts were not known. Furthermore, a 2018 paper on the Shroud co-authored by De Caro and his colleagues was retracted by the journal PLOS One, because not only did their study lack sufficient controls to support their conclusions, but the provenance of the fibers used in the analysis was also questioned.

See also

References

  1. Taylor, R.E.; Bar-Yosef, Ofer (2014). Radiocarbon Dating: An Archaeological Perspective (2nd ed.). Left Coast Press. p. 165.
  2. ^ Barcaccia, Gianni; Galla, Giulio; Achilli, Alessandro; Olivieri, Anna; Torroni, Antonio (5 October 2015). "Uncovering the sources of DNA found on the Turin Shroud". Scientific Reports. 5: 14484. Bibcode:2015NatSR...514484B. doi:10.1038/srep14484. PMC 4593049. PMID 26434580.
  3. Riani, M.; et al. (2013). "Regression analysis with partially labelled regressors: carbon dating of the shroud of Turin". Statistics and Computing. 23 (4): 551–61. doi:10.1007/s11222-012-9329-5. S2CID 6060870.
  4. ^ Poulle, Emmanuel (December 2009). "Les sources de l'histoire du linceul de Turin. Revue critique". Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique. 104 (3–4): 747–82. doi:10.1484/J.RHE.3.215.
  5. Rogers, Raymond N. (20 January 2005). "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the shroud of turin" (PDF). Thermochimica Acta. 425 (1–2): 189–94. Bibcode:2005TcAc..425..189R. doi:10.1016/j.tca.2004.09.029. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  6. Marino, Joe (2000). "Evidence for the Skewing of the C-14 Dating of the Shroud of Turin Due to Repairs" (PDF).
  7. Benford, Sue (2002). "Textile Evidence Supports Skewed Radiocarbon Date of Shroud of Turin" (PDF).
  8. Flury-Lemburg, Mechthild. "The Invisible Mending of the Shroud, the Theory and the Reality" (PDF). Shroud.com. Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  9. Jackson, John P. (5 May 2008). "A New Radiocarbon Hypothesis" (PDF). Turin Shroud Center of Colorado. Retrieved 18 February 2014 – via Shroud.com.
  10. Freer-Waters, Rachel A.; Jull, A. J. Timothy (2010). "Investigating a Dated Piece of the Shroud of Turin". Radiocarbon. 52 (4): 1521–27. Bibcode:2010Radcb..52.1521F. doi:10.1017/S0033822200056277. S2CID 14453491.
  11. ^ Gove, H. E. (1990). "Dating the Turin Shroud: An Assessment". Radiocarbon. 32 (1): 87–92. Bibcode:1990Radcb..32...87G. doi:10.1017/S0033822200039990.
  12. "ORAU - Shroud of Turin". c14.arch.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  13. Fersht, Alan (28 April 2009). "The most influential journals: Impact Factor and Eigenfactor". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (17): 6883–84. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106.6883F. doi:10.1073/pnas.0903307106. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2678438. PMID 19380731.
  14. ^ Damon, P. E.; Donahue, D. J.; Gore, B. H.; Hatheway, A. L.; Jull, A. J. T.; Linick, T. W.; Sercel, P. J.; Toolin, L. J.; Bronk, C. R.; Hall, E. T.; Hedges, R. E. M.; Housley, R.; Law, I. A.; Perry, C.; Bonani, G.; Trumbore, S.; Woelfli, W.; Ambers, J. C.; Bowman, S. G. E.; Leese, M. N.; Tite, M. S. (1989). "Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin". Nature. 337 (6208): 611–15. Bibcode:1989Natur.337..611D. doi:10.1038/337611a0. S2CID 27686437.
  15. ^ Casabianca, T.; Marinelli, E.; Pernagallo, G.; Torrisi, B. (22 March 2019). "Radiocarbon Dating of the Turin Shroud: New Evidence from Raw Data". Archaeometry. 61 (5). Wiley: 1223–31. doi:10.1111/arcm.12467. ISSN 0003-813X. S2CID 134747250.
  16. Brown, Charles S. (2007). Bible "Mysteries" Explained. Crystal Publishing. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-9582813-0-0.
  17. Rinaldi, Peter (1972). The man in the Shroud. Futura Publications Ltd. p. 45. ISBN 0-86007-010-7.
  18. ^ Ruffin, Bernard (1999). The Shroud of Turin. pp. 155–56. ISBN 0-87973-617-8.
  19. "Comments On The Restoration". Shroud.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  20. Phillips, Thomas J. (16 February 1989). "Shroud irradiated with neutrons?". Nature. 337 (6208): 594. Bibcode:1989Natur.337..594P. doi:10.1038/337594a0.
  21. Wilson, pp. 148–175
  22. Datko, Andrzej (2014). "The Shroud of Turin". The Book of Relics. Cracow. p. 351.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  23. p287 Ian Wilson, 1978, The Turin Shroud, Penguin Books (1979) first published by Doubleday & Company Inc., (1978) Under the title The Shroud of Turin
  24. Trans. G A Williamson, Ed Andrew Louth, Eusebius, The History of the Church, Penguin Books
  25. "St. John of Damascene on Holy Images (Followed by Three Sermons on the Assumption) | Christian Classics Ethereal Library". Ccel.org. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  26. D. Scavone: "Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail, and the Edessa Icon," Arthuriana vol. 9, no. 4, 3–31 (Winter 1999) (Article and abstract);Scavone, “British King Lucius, the Grail, and Joseph of Arimathea: The Question of Byzantine Origins.”, Publications of the Medieval Association of the Midwest 10 (2003): 101–42, vol. 10, 101–142 (2003).
  27. Averil Cameron, The Sceptic and the Shroud London: King's College Inaugural Lecture monograph (1980)
  28. Averil Cameron, The mandylion and Byzantine Iconoclasm. in H. Kessler, G. Wolf, eds, The holy face and the paradox of representation. Bologna, (1998), 33–54
  29. "The Sermon of Gregory Referendarius" (PDF).
  30. Wilson, Ian (1986). The Mysterious Shroud. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. p. 115.
  31. Bercovits, I. (1969). Illuminated Manuscripts in Hungary. Dublin: Irish University Press.
  32. Wilson, I., "The Evidence of the Shroud", Guild Publishing: London, 1986, p. 114 and http://www.newgeology.us/presentation24.html
  33. G.M.Rinaldi, "Il Codice Pray", http://sindone.weebly.com/pray.html
  34. Robert de Clari, La Conquête de Constantinople (ed. Philippe Lauer, Paris, 1924), Section XCII, lines 42-53, p.90
  35. Robert de Clari, The History Of Them That Took Constantinople, chapter 92 , in Edward N. Stone, Three Old French Chronicles of the Crusades (University of Washington Publications in the Social Sciences, volume 10; 1939).
  36. Madden, Thomas, and Donald Queller. The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. Second edition. p. 139.
  37. "The letter was rediscovered in the archive of the Abbey of St. Caterina a Formiello, Naples; it was folio CXXVI of the Chartularium Culisanense, now destroyed, a copy of which came to the Naples as a result of close political ties with the imperial Angelus-Comnenus family from 1481 on. The Greek original had been lost." in: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 October 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link); see also: a photo of the document Archived 2012-02-11 at the Wayback Machine
  38. Emmanuel Poulle, ″Les sources de l'histoire du linceul de Turin. Revue critique″, Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, 2009/3–4, pp. 747–781.Abstract Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine
  39. A. Nicolotti, "Su alcune testimonianze del Chartularium Culisanense, sulle false origini dell'Ordine Costantiniano Angelico di Santa Sofia e su taluni suoi documenti conservati presso l'Archivio di Stato di Napoli"., in «Giornale di storia» 8 (2012).
  40. Busson, Pierre (1991). "Sampling error?". Nature. 352 (6332): 187. Bibcode:1991Natur.352..187B. doi:10.1038/352187d0.
  41. John L. Brown, "Microscopical Investigation of Selected Raes Threads From the Shroud of Turin"Article (2005)
  42. Robert Villarreal, "Analytical Results On Thread Samples Taken From The Raes Sampling Area (Corner) Of The Shroud Cloth" Abstract (2008)
  43. ^ Benford, M. Sue; Marino, Joseph G. (2008). "Discrepancies in the radiocarbon dating area of the Turin Shroud". Chemistry Today. 26 (4): 4–12. INIST 20575837.
  44. ^ Rogers, Raymond N. (2005). "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the shroud of turin". Thermochimica Acta. 425 (1–2): 189–94. Bibcode:2005TcAc..425..189R. doi:10.1016/j.tca.2004.09.029.
  45. Emmanuel Poulle, ″Les sources de l'histoire du linceul de Turin. Revue critique″, Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, 2009/3–4, Abstract Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine; G. Fanti, F. Crosilla, M. Riani, A.C. Atkinson, "A Robust statistical analysis of the 1988 Turin Shroud radiocarbon analysis", Proceedings of the IWSAI, ENEA, 2010.
  46. Schafersman, Steven D. (14 March 2005). "A Skeptical Response to Studies on the Radiocarbon Sample from the Shroud of Turin by Raymond N. Rogers". llanoestacado.org. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  47. Turin Shroud 'could be genuine as carbon-dating was flawed Stephen Adams in the Daily Telegraph 10 Apr 2009
  48. "In March 2013 Giulio Fanti... concluded that dated from 300 BC to 400 AD":
  49. ^ Science Shines New Light on Shroud of Turin's Age; by Shafer Parker Jr. National Catholic Register; 05/06/2013 at http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/science-shines-new-light-on-shroud-of-turins-age/ Archived 7 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  50. Shroud of Turin returns to spotlight with new pope, new app, new debate; NBC News, Friday Mar 29, 2013, at http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/29/17517272-shroud-of-turin-returns-to-spotlight-with-new-pope-new-app-new-debate
  51. "Debate of Roger Sparks and William Meacham on alt.turin-shroud". Shroud.com. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  52. Meacham, William (1 March 1986). "From the Proceedings of the Symposium "Turin Shroud – Image of Christ?"". Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  53. Moroni, M. & van Haelst, R. – Natural Factors Affecting the Apparent Radiocarbon Age of Textiles. Shroud News, Issue No. 100, February 1997
  54. "Kouznetsov published numerous articles on the subject between 1994 and 1996:"
    • Kouznetsov, D. A.; Ivanov, A. A.; Veletsky, P. R. (1996). "A Re-evaluation of the Radiocarbon Date of the Shroud of Turin Based on Biofractionation of Carbon Isotopes and a Fire-Simulating Model". Archaeological Chemistry. ACS Symposium Series. Vol. 625. pp. 229–47. doi:10.1021/bk-1996-0625.ch018. ISBN 978-0-8412-3395-9.
    • Kouznetsov D. A.; Ivanov A. A.; Veletsky P. R.; Charsky V. L.; Beklemishe O. S. (1995). "A laboratory model for studies on the environment-dependent chemical modifications in textile cellulose". New J. Chem. 19: 1105–09. INIST 10874688.
    • Kouznetsov D. A.; Ivanov A. A.; Veletsky P.R. (1996). "Effects of fires and biofractionation of carbon isotopes on results of radiocarbon dating of old textiles: the Shroud of Turin". Journal of Archaeological Science. 23 (1): 23–34. Bibcode:1996JArSc..23..109K. doi:10.1006/jasc.1996.0009.
    • Kouznetsov, Dmitri A.; Ivanov, Andrey A.; Veletsky, Pavel R. (1994). "Detection of alkylated cellulose derivatives in several archaeological linen textile samples by capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry". Analytical Chemistry. 66 (23): 4359. doi:10.1021/ac00095a037.
    • Kouznetsov, Dmitri; Ivanov, Andrey; Veletsky, Pavel (1996). "Analysis of Cellulose Chemical Modification: A Potentially Promising Technique for Characterizing Cellulose Archaeological Textiles". Journal of Archaeological Science. 23 (1): 23–34. Bibcode:1996JArSc..23...23K. doi:10.1006/jasc.1996.0003.
  55. Fesenko, A. V.; Belyakov, A. V.; Til'kunov, Y. N.; Moskvina, T. P. (2001). "On the dating of the Shroud of Turin". Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 71 (5): 528–31.
  56. Jull, A.J.T.; Donahue, D.J.; Damon, P.E. (1996). "Factors Affecting the Apparent Radiocarbon Age of Textiles: A Comment on "Effects of Fires and Biofractionation of Carbon Isotopes on Results of Radiocarbon Dating of Old Textiles: The Shroud of Turin", by D. A. Kouznetsovet al". Journal of Archaeological Science. 23 (1): 157–60. Bibcode:1996JArSc..23..157J. doi:10.1006/jasc.1996.0013.
  57. Taylor, R. E.; Bar-Yosef, Ofer (2014). Radiocarbon Dating, Second Edition: An Archaeological Perspective. Left Coast Press. ISBN 978-1-59874-590-0.
  58. M. Polidoro. Notes on a Strange World: The Case of the Holy Fraudster. Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 28, Number 2, March/April 2004.
  59. Laurence A. Moran. "Laurence Moran. Dmitri Kouznetsov is No Scientist". Bioinfo.med.utoronto.ca. Archived from the original on 1 November 2006. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  60. Richard Trott (2 May 2004). "Dmitri Kouznetsov's Mystery Citations". Talkorigins.org. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  61. Kouznetsov, Dmitri; Ivanov, Andrey; Veletsky, Pavel (1996). "Effects of fires and biofractionation of carbon isotopes on results of radiocarbon dating of old textiles: The Shroud of Turin". Journal of Archaeological Science. 23 (1): 109–21. Bibcode:1996JArSc..23..109K. doi:10.1006/jasc.1996.0009.
    • Kouznetsov, D.A. La datazione radiocarbonica della Sindone di Torino: quanto fu accurata e quanto potrebbe essere accurata? Atti del Convegno di San Felice Circeo (LT), 24–25 Agosto 1996, pp. 13–18.
    • Kouznetsov, D. A.; Ivanov, A. A.; Veletsky, P. R.; Charsky, V. L.; Beklemishev, O. S. (1996). "A Laboratory Model for Studying Environmentally Dependent Chemical Modifications in Textile Cellulose". Textile Research Journal. 66 (2): 111. doi:10.1177/004051759606600208. S2CID 98254671.
  62. Meacham, W. (2007). "The amazing Dr Kouznetsov". Antiquity, Oxford. 81, 779
  63. ^ Ramsey, Christopher (22 March 2008). "ORAU – Shroud of Turin". C14.arch.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  64. Omaar, Rageh (21 March 2008). "Science/Nature | Shroud mystery 'refuses to go away'". BBC News. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  65. "Fresh tests on Shroud of Turin". www.telegraph.co.uk. 25 February 2008. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  66. Chickos, J.S., and Uang, J. (2001). Chemical Modification of Cellulose. The Possible Effects of Chemical Cleaning on Fatty Acids Incorporated in Old Textiles (St. Louis MO, Department of Chemistry – University of Missouri-St. Louis).
  67. Brunati, E. "Note critiche sulla datazione della S.Sindone con il radiocarbonio" Typescript, Gennaio 1994, pp. 1–45.
  68. Cardamone-Blacksburg, J. - La cellulosa dal lino; caratterizzazione e datazione - Typescript, Symposium Scientifique International de Paris sur le Linceul de Turin, 7–8 Septembre 1989, pp. 1–5.
  69. The Turin Shroud is fake. Get over it Tom Chivers in the Daily Telegraph 20 Dec 2011
  70. ^ Rogue fibres found in the Shroud Textile Horizons, December 1988
  71. The Shroud, by Ian Wilson; Random House, 2010, pp. 130–31
  72. The Invisible Mending of the Shroud, the Theory and the Reality; by Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, at http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/n65part5.pdf
  73. Freer-Waters, Rachel A; Timothy Jull, A J (2016). "Investigating a Dated Piece of the Shroud of Turin". Radiocarbon. 52 (4): 1521. Bibcode:2010Radcb..52.1521F. doi:10.1017/S0033822200056277.
  74. Riani M., Atkinson A.C., Fanti G., Crosilla F., (4 May 2010). "Carbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin: Partially Labelled Regressor and the Design of Experiments" Archived 4 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  75. Riani, Marco; Atkinson, Anthony C.; Fanti, Giulio; Crosilla, Fabio (27 April 2012). "Regression analysis with partially labelled regressors: carbon dating of the Shroud of Turin". Statistics and Computing. 23 (4). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 551–61. doi:10.1007/s11222-012-9329-5. ISSN 0960-3174. S2CID 6060870.
  76. Walsh, Bryan; Schwalbe, Larry (2020). "An instructive inter-laboratory comparison: The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 29. Elsevier BV: 102015. Bibcode:2020JArSR..29j2015W. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102015. ISSN 2352-409X.
  77. JMP; Ball, Philip (9 April 2019). "How old is the Turin Shroud?". Chemistry World. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  78. Christen, J. Andres (1994). "Summarizing a Set of Radiocarbon Determinations: A Robust Approach". Applied Statistics. 43 (3): 489–503. doi:10.2307/2986273. JSTOR 2986273.
  79. Fanti, G., and Marinelli, E. (1998a). Results of a Probabilistic Model Applied to the Research carried out on the Turin Shroud.
  80. Fanti, G., and Marinelli, E. (1998b). Risultati di un modello probabilistico applicato alle ricerche eseguite sulla Sindone di Torino.
  81. ^ An instructive inter-laboratory comparison: The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin", by Bryan Walsh & Larry Schwalbe, published in 2020 in the Journal of Archaeological Science (Reports Volume 29, February 2020, 102015), freely available here
  82. Joe Nickell (2 March 2005). "Claims of Invalid "Shroud" Radiocarbon Date Cut from Whole Cloth". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  83. A. Marion, A.-L. Courage, Nouvelles découvertes sur le suaire de Turin, Paris, Albin Michel, 1998, ISBN 2-226-09231-5
  84. Guscin, Mark. "The 'Inscriptions' on the Shroud" (PDF). British Society for the Turin Shroud Newsletter Nov 1999.
  85. Frale 2009
  86. Owen, Richard (26 April 2009). "Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2010. her study of the trial of the Knights Templar had brought to light a document in which Arnaut Sabbatier ... was shown 'a long linen cloth on which was impressed the figure of a man' and instructed to venerate the image by kissing its feet three times.
  87. ^ Owen, Richard (21 November 2009). "Death certificate is imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican scholar". The Times. Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  88. ^ Daily Telegraph: "Jesus Christ's 'death certificate' found on Turin Shroud"
  89. "New Light on the Shroud". Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  90. The Jesus Inquest: The Case for and Against the Resurrection of the Christ by Charles Foster 2011 ISBN 0-8499-4811-8 Appendix 2: The Turin Shroud
  91. Vallerani, Massimo, "I templari e la Sindone: l'"ipotetica della falsità" e l'invenzione della storia", Historia Magistra, 2, 2009, abstract. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  92. Squires, Nick (3 May 2010). "Pope Benedict says Shroud of Turin authentic burial robe of Jesus". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  93. ^ Salvatore Lorusso, Chiara Matteucci, Andrea Natali, Tania Chinni, Laura Solla (2011). "The Shroud of Turin between history and science: an ongoing debate". Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage. Vol 11, University of Bologna.
  94. Jackson, John P., Eric J. Jumper, Bill Mottern, and Kenneth E. Stevenson. 1977. "The three-dimensional image of Jesus' burial cloth", Proceedings, 1977 United States Conference of Research on The Shroud of Turin, Holy Shroud Guild, New York, 1977, pp. 74–94.
  95. F. Filas, The dating of the Shroud from coins of Pontius Pilate, Cogan, Youngtown (Arizona), 1982
  96. N. Balossino, L'immagine della Sindone, ricerca fotografica e informatica, Editrice Elle Di Ci, 1997, ISBN 88-01-00798-1
  97. Lombatti, Antonio (1997). "Doubts Concerning the Coins Over the Eyes". British Society for the Turin Shroud Newsletter (45).
  98. Danin, Avinoam (1998). "Where Did the Shroud of Turin Originate? A Botanical Quest". ERETZ Magazine. No. November/December.
  99. Sheler, Jeffery L. (24 July 2000). "Shroud of Turin - Mysteries of History". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  100. Max Frei, "Nine Years of Palynological Studies on the Shroud", Shroud Spectrum International, (June 1982) pp. 3–7
  101. Mark Antonacci, The Resurrection of the Shroud, M. Evans and Company, Inc, 2000, ISBN 0-87131-963-2, p. 111
  102. Miller, V. D.; Pellicori, S. F. (July 1981). "Ultraviolet fluorescence photography of the Shroud of Turin". Journal of Biological Photography. 49 (3): 71–85. PMID 7024245.
  103. Pellicori, S. F. (1980). "Spectral properties of the Shroud of Turin". Applied Optics. 19 (12): 1913–20. Bibcode:1980ApOpt..19.1913P. doi:10.1364/AO.19.001913. PMID 20221155.
  104. Avinoam Danin (2008). Botany of the Shroud of Turin, An addition concerning new information since the 1999 report. Shroud of Turin Conference, 2008, Ohio.
  105. Avinoam Danin. Flora of Israel, 17 January 2015
  106. Joe Nickell: "Pollens on the 'shroud': A study in deception". Skeptical Inquirer, Summer 1994, pp. 379–85
  107. Carroll, Robert T. The Skeptic Dictionary, Hoboken, John Wiley and Sons, 2003, ISBN 0-471-27242-6
  108. Bernard Ruffin, The Shroud of Turin, 1999, ISBN 0-87973-617-8, p. 76
  109. Talk by Pete Schumacher presented on the website of the museum he created. http://shroudnm.com/library.html
  110. Paper by Pete Schumacher http://shroudnm.com/docs/1999-05-Photogrammetric-Responses-from-the-Shroud-of-Turin.pdf
  111. Heller, John H. Report on the Shroud of Turin, Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN 0-395-33967-7, p. 207
  112. J. Dee German. "On the Visibility of the Shroud Image" (PDF). Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  113. N. Noguier de Malijay, La Santa Sindone di Torino, Libreria del S. Cuore, Torino, 1930
  114. Jackson, John P.; Jumper, Eric J.; Ercoline, William R. (15 July 1984). "Correlation of image intensity on the Turin Shroud with the 3-D structure of a human body shape". Applied Optics. 23 (14): 2244. Bibcode:1984ApOpt..23.2244J. doi:10.1364/AO.23.002244. PMID 18212985.
  115. A. Belyakov, "Prospettive di ricerca in Russia sulla Sindone di Torino", Atti del convegno di San Felice Circeo (LT) 24–25 agosto 1996, pp. 19–24
  116. G. Carter, "Formation of the Image on the Shroud of Turin", American Chemical Society Volume on Archaeological Chemistry, 1983
  117. Baldacchini, G.; Lazzaro, P. Di; Murra, D.; Fanti, G. (2008). "Coloring linens with excimer lasers to simulate the body image of the Turin Shroud". Applied Optics. 47 (9): 1278–85. Bibcode:2008ApOpt..47.1278B. doi:10.1364/ao.47.001278. PMID 18709075.
  118. Di Lazzaro, P.; Baldacchini, G.; Fanti, G.; Murra, D.; Santoni, A. (22 April 2009). "Colouring fabrics with excimer lasers to simulate encoded images: the case of the Shroud of Turin" (PDF). XVII International Symposium on Gas Flow, Chemical Lasers, and High-Power Lasers. Vol. 7131. pp. 71311R–71311R–6. doi:10.1117/12.816826. S2CID 137492085. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  119. G. Fanti, F. Lattarulo, O. Scheuermann, "Body Image Formation Hypotheses Based on Corona Discharge Archived 22 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine", 2005
  120. Rogers, Raymond N. (2008). A Chemist's Perspective On The Shroud of Turin. Lulu Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0615239286.
  121. Fanti, G. (2011). "Hypotheses Regarding the Formation of the Body Image on the Turin Shroud. A Critical Compendium". The Journal of Imaging Science and Technology. 55 (6): 060507. doi:10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2011.55.6.060507.
  122. Fanti, G. (2010). "Can a Corona Discharge Explain the Body Image of the Turin Shroud?". Journal of Imaging Science and Technology. 54 (2): 020508. doi:10.2352/j.imagingsci.technol.2010.54.2.020508.
  123. Fanti, G.; Botella, J. A.; Di Lazzaro, P.; Heimburger, T.; Schneider, R.; Svensson, N. (2010). "Microscopic and Macroscopic Characteristics of the Shroud of Turin Image Superficiality". Journal of Imaging Science and Technology. 54 (4): 040201. doi:10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2010.54.4.040201.
  124. Squires, Nick (28 March 2013). "Turin Shroud 'is not a medieval forgery'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  125. Di Lazzaro, Paolo; Murra, Daniele; Santoni, Antonino; Nichelatti, Enrico. "The Conservation of the Shroud of Turin: Optical Studies". Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  126. "COLORAZIONE SIMIL–SINDONICA DI TESSUTI DI LINO TRAMITE RADIAZIONE NEL LONTANO ULTRAVIOLETTO" (PDF). Enea. [Rapporti Tecnici] Rt/Prot. ENEA. ISSN 0393-3016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  127. ^ Boyle, Alan (23 December 2011). "Was Holy Shroud created in a flash? Italian researchers resurrect claim". Cosmic Log. NBC News. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  128. ^ Curciarello, F.; De Leo, V.; Fazio, G.; Mandaglio, G. (March 2012). "The abrupt changes in the yellowed fibril density in the Linen of Turin". Radiation Effects and Defects in Solids. 167 (3): 224–28. Bibcode:2012REDS..167..224C. doi:10.1080/10420150.2011.629320. S2CID 97082261.
  129. Wilensky-Lanford, Brook (26 February 2014). "Latest Shroud of Turin Theory: Nuclear Emissions". Religion Dispatches. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  130. "Turin Shroud may actually be burial cloth of Jesus, new study suggests". 23 August 2024.
  131. https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/world/turin-shroud-may-actually-be-jesus-s-burial-cloth-new-study-suggests/ar-AA1pet5g
  132. "What's Going on with the Shroud of Turin?". 27 August 2024.
  133. "Researchers make new finding on Turin Shroud that many believe was Christ's burial cloth: 'Mysteries of God'". Fox News. 21 August 2024.
  134. "Turin Shroud may actually be Jesus's burial cloth, new study suggests". Independent.co.uk. 25 August 2024.
Shroud of Turin
History
Location
Investigations
Researchers
Related
Categories: