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CV NEWS FEED // A 2022 scientific analysis Italian researchers conducted on the Shroud of Turin is currently making headlines for its conclusions that could corroborate traditionally held Christian beliefs about the ancient artifact.
The research found radiocarbon dating on the shroud from 1988 to be inaccurate, and, using a new method involving a wide angled X-ray, determined the shroud to be much older—2000 years old, aligning with the widely-held belief that the image of the crucified man on the shroud is, in fact, an image of Jesus Christ.
According to a Christian Daily report, the Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council in Italy first published the results of its analysis in a public access journal called Heritage in 2022.
The research made several headlines in the past few days since the UK-based Daily Mail published an article, titled: “Is this proof the Turin Shroud IS real?: Scientists make startling discovery after analyzing cloth ‘Jesus was buried in.’”
“The degree of natural aging of the cellulose that constitutes the linen of the investigated sample, obtained by X-ray analysis, showed that the TS fabric is much older than the seven centuries proposed by the 1988 radiocarbon dating,” the Italian researchers stated.
The 1988 tests, they continued, could not be considered reliable, on account of “both procedural and statistical problems,” including issues related to carbon contamination and measurement samples involved in the testing, according to Christian Daily.
The researchers further stated that the “degree of natural aging” the new method observed on the cellulose making up the linen sample was far beyond what previous researchers had found, according to the Christian Daily report. Cellulose is an organic compound often processed to produce fibers used in clothing and paper.
“The experimental results are compatible with the hypothesis that the TS is a 2000-year-old relic, as supposed by Christian tradition,” they noted, as long as the shroud has been kept at average temperature and humidity levels throughout the thirteen centuries of its unknown history and the seven centuries of its known history.
For the 1988 results to be accurate, the researchers estimated the shroud would have to have been “conserved during its hypothetical seven centuries of life at a secular room temperature very close to the maximum values registered on the earth.”
Finally, they remarked that “it was fortunate” that the shroud was taken to Europe seven centuries ago:
Indeed, our analysis has shown that, from the XIV century until today, the natural aging of the cellulose of the TS linen has been very low, due to the low secular European average room temperatures, thereby preventing the TS body image from fully disappearing, which would have happened at an average secular room temperature of 22.5C.
The researchers concluded further that the shroud’s recent history in Europe may ultimately be the reason why the linen has not fully yellowed and the image disappeared, “thus preserving a puzzle that is very difficult for science to solve.”
