Recently published scientific analysis of the Turin Shroud (TS) suggests the linen cloth bearing the image of a crucified man, whom some believe to be Jesus himself, is 2,000 years old – far older than previously thought.
The research findings in open access journal Heritage involved a new method for testing ancient linen threads. The Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council in Italy carried out the analysis and first reported the results in 2022.
Previous radiocarbon dating by international researchers in 1988 dated the 442 cm long by 113 cm high cloth with Egyptian herringbone patterns sometime around 1325 AD.
“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,” said the Italian research unit.
“The experimental results are compatible with the hypothesis that the TS is a 2000-year-old relic, as supposed by Christian tradition, under the condition that it was kept at suitable levels of average secular temperature—20.0–22.5C—and correlated relative humidity—75–55%—for 13 centuries of unknown history, in addition to the seven centuries of known history in Europe.
“To make the present result compatible with that of the 1988 radiocarbon test, the TS should 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.”
Matthew 27:59 in the Bible records Joseph of Arimathea taking the body of Jesus down from the cross and wrapping him in linen cloth before placing in a tomb.
The cloth has been kept at the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy, after being discovered in the 1350s.
The Italian researchers said the 1988 radiocarbon tests were allegedly unreliable because of “both procedural and statistical problems.” Amongst the criticisms were carbon contamination of the textile and questions about the measurement samples involved.
The latest research method involved wide angled X ray scattering to measure the sugar molecules comprising flax cellulose in the fabric. This technique is able to carry out a time conversion, involving comparing the rate of cellulose degradation to temperature parameters.
“Finally, since X-ray dating indicates that the TS is older than its seven centuries of European history, we can also argue that it was fortunate that the TS was carried to Europe seven centuries ago,” said the researchers.
“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.”
According to the researchers, if the TS was 20 centuries old, a natural aging of 90 percent would have happened with an average temperature of 22.5C and humidity of 55 percent.
“This value is much higher than the 60% that was experimentally determined for the TS sample.
“Therefore, by chance, only the recent history of the TS in Europe has prevented the TS linen from fully yellowing and the TS image from fully disappearing, thus preserving a puzzle that is very difficult for science to solve.”
