New Study Suggests Shroud of Turin May Be 2,000 Years Old

A team of Italian researchers has contributed to the ongoing debate surrounding the Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth believed by some to have wrapped the body of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. In a recent study published in the journal Heritage, the researchers conducted dating work on a sample of the Shroud, suggesting it may be a relic that dates back approximately 2,000 years.

The Shroud, which has been the focus of extensive scrutiny, features a faint image of a man that some believe is the body of Jesus miraculously imprinted onto the cloth. While the latest study does not definitively state whether the artifact was indeed Jesus’ burial shroud, the authors suggest that its age aligns with the time of Christ.

Previously, scientific consensus indicated a medieval origin for the Shroud, leading many to classify it as a forgery. Historical records show that the Shroud was first documented in France in the 1350s, but it was denounced as a fake by the bishop of Troyes, Pierre d’Arcis, in 1389, who claimed to know the artist responsible for its creation.

The most significant evidence for a medieval origin came from a radiocarbon dating study conducted in the late 1980s. This previous research determined that the linen dated to between A.D. 1260 and A.D. 1390, periods that correspond to its first known appearance in the historical record. These results led many to believe that it could not be the burial cloth of Jesus.

Nonetheless, some experts have challenged these earlier findings, arguing that the tests may have been flawed due to contamination. The study published in Heritage, led by researcher Liberato De Caro from the Institute of Crystallography in Italy, employed a new method for dating ancient linen threads by inspecting their structural degradations using a technique known as Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering.

The authors indicated that their findings were “fully compatible” with measurements obtained from a linen sample, dated A.D. 55-74 according to historical records. This suggests the Shroud could indeed be a 2,000-year-old relic.

However, the authors caution that these results only align with the hypothesis of an ancient origin if the artifact was preserved under specific conditions, maintaining an average temperature of around 20-22.5 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of 55-75 percent for over 13 centuries of unknown history, plus seven centuries in Europe.

As their research contradicts previous radiocarbon dating findings, the authors called for further investigation. They stated that a more systematic X-ray analysis of additional fabric samples from the Turin Shroud is necessary to confirm the conclusions of their study.