Researchers at the Institute of Crystallography at Italy’s National Research Council report a striking result: a new analysis suggests the Shroud of Turin may have been woven around the time of Jesus’ death. The team analyzed the legendary cloth that is believed to have wrapped Christ’s body and say the fabric’s creation date is close to that era. The Shroud of Turin has long sparked debate among scholars. A recent technological advance made more precise dating possible, the Daily Mail reported.
The Authenticity of the Shroud Has Been Questioned
The linen shroud said to have covered Jesus has puzzled historians, believers, and skeptics for centuries. The Bible says Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen shroud and placed it in a tomb.
The cloth bears a faint image of a bearded man, which many believers consider the imprint of Jesus’ body.
In the 14th century the shroud first appeared in the French town of Lirey in the possession of Count Geoffroi de Charny. He entrusted it to the local church’s rector, and the relic was first displayed publicly in 1353 as the burial cloth that had wrapped Christ after his crucifixion.
Since 1578 the fabric has been kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy.
By the late 20th century a major study challenged the cloth’s authenticity. In 1988 an international team used radiocarbon dating on a small fragment of the fabric and concluded it had likely been made between 1260 and 1390.
Technological Advances Help Uncover the Truth
But now Italian researchers using wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) report a very different result: their analysis indicates the shroud was produced roughly 2,000 years ago.
The WAXS technique lets scientists measure the natural aging of linen cellulose and estimate how much time has passed since the fabric was made. The team examined eight small samples from the Shroud of Turin, exposing them to X-rays to reveal fine structural details of the linen and its cellulose.
Cellulose is made of long chains of glucose molecules. Over time those chains break down, and the pattern of that breakdown can indicate how long the fabric has existed. To estimate the shroud’s age, the researchers factored in aging parameters such as temperature and humidity, which strongly affect cellulose degradation.
From the degree of degradation, the scientists infer the shroud was likely stored at about 22.5 °C with roughly 55 percent relative humidity for about 13 centuries before it reached Europe.
The researchers then compared the cellulose breakdown in the shroud with other fabrics recovered in Israel and dated to the 1st century.
In an article published in the journal Heritage, the team wrote, “The data profiles completely match similar measurements from a linen sample, historically recorded to date between 55 and 74 AD, found in Masada, Israel.”
The team also compared the shroud to linen samples dated between 1260 and 1390 AD and found no match. Lead author Dr. Liberato De Caro said the 1988 radiocarbon results should be considered incorrect.
