Italian researchers used a special X-ray technique to see how the threads of the Shroud of Turin have aged, revealing that the Shroud was made around the time of Christ, about 2,000 years ago.
A controversial linen shroud, believed by some to be the burial shroud of Jesus, has baffled the world for more than 600 years.
The Shroud of Turin was previously suspected of being the wrapping placed around Christ’s mutilated body after the crucifixion when it was first presented to the public in the 1350s.
But research in the 1980s seemed to disprove this claim, after dating it back to the Middle Ages.
Italian researchers have used a new X-ray technique to date the material and have now confirmed that it was made around the time of Christ, some 2,000 years ago.
They say the fact that the timelines match lends credence to the idea that the faint, bloodstained pattern of a man with his arms crossed was left behind by the dead body of Jesus.
The Bible tells us that Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen shroud and placed it in a tomb.
Matthew 27:59-60 reads, “Then Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a new linen cloth. He laid the body of Jesus in a new tomb which he had dug in the rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a very large stone and covering the entrance. When he had done this, he went out.”
Since its first presentation to the public in the 1350s, the shroud has captured the imagination of historians, church leaders, skeptics, and Catholics.
The French knight Geoffroi de Charny gave it to the dean of the church in Lirey, France, and declared it the Holy Shroud.
It has has been kept in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy since 1578.
In 1988, an international research team analyzed a small piece of the shroud using carbon dating, which determined that the cloth was likely made sometime between 1260 and 1390 AD.
This technique uses the decay of a radioactive isotope of carbon (14C) to determine the time and date of objects containing carbonaceous material.
The Bible says that Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen shroud and placed it in a new tomb
Some experts have said that the authenticity of the linen can no longer be questioned. They claim that the linen is made from flax grown in the Middle East and that a crown of thorns in the shape of a helmet is on the man’s face.
However, others believe it is a forgery, as carbon dating was done in 1988 in three different labs and all three showed it to be only seven centuries old.
Scientists from the Italian Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council recently conducted a study using wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), which measured the natural aging of flax cellulose and converted it into the time since production.
They studied eight small samples of the Shroud of Turin fabric and subjected them to X-rays to reveal tiny details of the structure of the linen and the cellulose patterns.
Cellulose is made up of long chains of linked sugar molecules that break down over time. This indicates how long a garment or textile has been around.
To date the shroud, the team used specific aging parameters, including temperature and humidity, which cause significant breakdown of cellulose.
Based on the degree of decomposition, the team determined that the Shroud of Turin was likely kept at a temperature of about 22 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of about 55 percent for 13 centuries before arriving in Europe.
The 4.2-metre-long Shroud of Turin is touted as the wrapping used for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion, and features a faint, bloodstained pattern of a man with his arms folded in front of him
If it had been stored under different conditions, the aging would also have been different.
The researchers then compared the breakdown of cellulose in the shroud with other linen fabrics found in Israel dating back to the first century.
‘The data profiles were fully compatible with analog measurements obtained on a linen sample dated, according to historical data, to 55-74 AD and found at Masada, Israel. [Herod’s famous fortress built on a limestone bedrock overlooking the Dead Sea]’, reads the study published in the journal Heritage.
The team also compared the shroud to samples of linen produced between 1260 and 1390 AD, but none matched.
“To reconcile the current results with those of the 1988 radiocarbon dating test, the Shroud of the Resurrection would have had to have been preserved throughout its hypothetical seven-century existence at secular room temperatures very close to the maximum values recorded on Earth,” the study said.
Based on the degree of decomposition, the team determined that the Shroud of Turin was likely kept at a temperature of about 22 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of about 55 percent for about 13 centuries before arriving in Europe.
Lead researcher Dr. Liberato De Caro said in a statement that the 1988 test should be considered flawed because “dust samples are typically subject to all kinds of contamination, which cannot be completely removed from the dated sample.”
“If the sample cleaning procedure is not done thoroughly, carbon-14 dating is not reliable,” he added.
‘This may have been the case in 1988, as confirmed by experimental evidence showing that there is a significant increase in carbon-14 as one moves from the periphery towards the centre of the leaf, along the longest side.’
Scientists have long studied the Shroud of Turin in hopes of unraveling this age-old mystery.
Another group of experts from the Institute of Crystallography announced that they had found evidence that the shroud contained the blood of a torture victim.
They claimed to have identified substances such as creatinine and ferritin that are commonly found in patients who have suffered severe injuries, such as torture.