Shroud

Is the Shroud of Turin, which the Catholic Church claims to be the cloth that Jesus was buried in after the crucifixion; the real shroud or a medieval hoax? The Shroud of Turin is the most studied artifact in the world. Scientist have used the latest scientific tools to probe its authenticity for the past thirty years. Some of the findings seem to contradict each other on first look, however, as scientist look deeper they discover the truth. On this page is a brief summary of the latest scientific findings. You can read this page and draw your own conclusions as to is it real or not.

CLOTH: The Shroud is a linen cloth made from flax. The weave pattern is a complex three interlaced design, not a simple one. This was an expensive piece of cloth. (interesting)
BLEACHING: The bleaching process was typical of the first century. In medieval times a different process was used. If this is a medieval forgery then the forgers would have had to hand make the linen and bleached it by the older methods. (forgery possible)
IMAGE: The image is made up of millions of tiny spots on the fibers. It is a pixilated image, unlike continuous painted images of the time. The spots are only two microns thick, and are only on the outer most fibers of the shroud. There are no paint pigments that make up the image. The spots that make up the image remain a mystery to scientist studying the shroud. (forgery impossible)
NEGATIVE IMAGE: The shroud is actually a negative image. If this was a medieval forgery then one has to ask why they would have made it a negative image and not a positive image? Negative images where not known until the invention of photography some 4 to 5 hundred years later. (very unlikely)
3D IMAGE: NASA scientist use 3D imaging to explore the planets of the solar system. Using computer imaging devices on the shroud image, it was discovered that the image has 3D encoding within it, which allows a dimensional image to be made. The man who developed this, said there is no other image on Earth, which has this 3D encoded feature. (a 14th century forgery impossibility)
IMAGE DISTANCE: The image is only formed where it was within 4cm of the body. Where the shroud was further away from the body then 4cm, no image dots appear. Where the shroud was in contact with the body, the image is the strongest. The image has a direct relationship to the distance between the body and the shroud. This supports the radiation image formation theory. However, attempts to duplicate this image process with various know energy sources have all failed. Since the image has this relationship of intensity and distance to the body, this is the method by which the 3D encoding was formed. (mystery)
FAINT IMAGE: The image is very faint, and can not be seen close up. It is only noticeable at a distance of ten feet or more. A medieval forger would have had a very hard time seeing what he had done and where the next dot should go. (extremely difficult)
INSOLUBLE: The shroud went through a fire several hundred years ago. Water was used to put out the fire. The image was unaffected in areas where water marks appears. If the image was from powder dust the dots would have migrated (moved) with the water. Even normal humidity would cause migration over time. (mystery)
NOT ORGANIC, NOT INORGANIC: The image is not made from organic paints, and it appears that it is also not made from inorganic materials. This has led scientist to speculate that some form of energy was used to form this image. (mystery)
THERMAL STABILITY: During the fire the shroud was in a silver lined box. The fire was so hot that the silver melted and burned through the linen in eight places, but luckily did not completely destroy the shroud. Also, the image was not damaged by the heat of the fire. This shows that the image has thermal stability. (remarkable)
ONE SIDED IMAGE: The image is formed largely on one side of the cloth. However, there are some images on the opposite side, but again only on the very outer surfaces of the outer most threads. No image spots inside the material. (very interesting)
IMAGE NOT FORMED BY X-RAYS: An image could be formed by X-rays, however it would take over 100 years to form this way! (mystery)
ELECTRON IMAGE: In theory electrons could have formed the image, but no known natural process can explain how this might have happened! (mystery)
POLLEN: A number of flower pollens have been found on the shroud. A number of these flowers are only found in the Middle East. A medieval forger would have to have gotten flowers from that area and sprinkled the pollen onto the cloth. (forgery highly unlikely) Pollen from flowers that bloom at Passover time and native to Jerusalem were also found on the shroud, lending evidence that this cloth was in use at that time of Christs' crucifixion. (More evidence that this is the real shroud.)
IN THE TOMB: From the Bible we know Jesus body was placed in a tomb near Jerusalem. The tomb was carved into limestone. In Israel there are three types of limestone. The limestone found in and near Jerusalem, is the same as the particles of limestone found on the shroud. (strong evidence that is this the real shroud, forgers would have had to gotten the correct limestone dust and add it to the shroud. Unlikely.)
BLOOD: There are over 400 blood stains on the shroud. The blood type is AB a fairly rare type but fairly common to Jews. DNA from the blood has degraded to the point where scientist can only determine that it is from a human male, but nothing more.
WOUNDS: The blood staining is consistence with the Bibles description of a crown of thorns on the head, lash marks on the back and sides, puncture holes on the hands and feet, and a spear wound on the side. (Biblical support)
CARBON 14 TESTING: The Vatican allowed scientist to take several samples from the shroud. The church did not want carbon dating to be done; however, scientist did go ahead and do the test but did not report it to the public or the church. Later the church gave permission for a second sample to be taken from a different area. Carbon dating was done on this sample and made public. This sample showed that the shroud dated between 1260 to 1390. To many this proved that the shroud was a forgery. However, several years later with further investigation, it was discovered that the shroud had been repaired with a cotton fabric, while the rest of the shroud is made of linen, which is a different material. The carbon dated piece from the second test was from the cotton repaired area! The first sample taken from a central location was made of linen, and carbon 14 testing dated it to between 70 BC to 90 AD, well within the time frame of Jesus burial. (strong support that shroud was from the time of Christ, and is very likely authentic)

Oct. 2011