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New Study Offers Insight Into Authenticity Of The Shroud Of Turin
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New Study Offers Insight Into Authenticity Of The Shroud Of Turin

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The Shroud of Turin, the linen cloth believed by Christians to have been Jesus Christ’s burial shroud, may date back to around the time of his death, a new study suggests.

A team of Italian researchers conducted dating work on a sample from the shroud and estimated that it may be a 2,000-year-old relic. This finding contradicts previous research, which suggested that the ancient linen cloth dates back to the Middle Ages.

Highlights
  • The Shroud of Turin may date back to the era of Jesus Christ's death, around 2,000 years ago, according to a new study.
  • Italian researchers used a new dating technique called wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) on the shroud.
  • The new study challenges previous findings that dated the shroud to the Middle Ages.

The shroud features a faint image of what some believe is the body of Jesus of Nazareth. 

Image credits: Wikipedia

According to the Bible, after Jesus Christ was crucified at the age of 33, his body was wrapped in cloth, which was a typical ritual of the time. The contour of his physique was later imprinted onto the shroud.

The documented history of the artifact dates back to north-central France in 1354, but later that century, it was denounced as a forgery by the bishop of Troyes, Pierre d’Arcis.

Despite this, the cloth became an object of worship. It was kept in a chapel in Chambéry before being moved to Turin in 1578, where it is now housed in a silver box covered by four layers of bulletproof glass at the Chapel of the Holy Shroud.

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According to the Bible, after Jesus Christ was crucified, his body was wrapped in cloth. The contour of his body was later imprinted onto the shroud

Image credits: Wikipedia

Image credits: HISTORY

Lead researcher Liberato De Caro from the Institute of Crystallography in Italy employed a new dating technique called wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) to examine the natural aging of the cellulose in a small sample of the linen cloth.

“The experimental results are compatible with the hypothesis that the [shroud] is a 2,000-year-old relic, as supposed by Christian tradition, under the condition that it was kept at suitable levels of average secular temperature and correlated relative humidity for 13 centuries of unknown history, in addition to the seven centuries of known history in Europe,” the authors of the study wrote. 

The new finding challenges a previous radiocarbon study, which suggested that the ancient linen cloth dates back to the Middle Ages

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The results do not agree with a previous radiocarbon study conducted in 1988, which concluded that the shroud dates to between A.D. 1260 and A.D. 1390, corresponding with the artifact’s first documented appearance in France at the beginning of the Middle Ages.

However, the conclusions of the 1980s study were questioned by several experts, including the authors of the new study, who argue that the tests on the shroud may have been flawed due to contamination.

“Fabric samples are usually subject to all kinds of contamination, which cannot always be controlled and completely removed from the dated specimen,” explained Liberato De Caro.

Given the contamination factor, the authors believe that “a more accurate and systematic X-ray investigation of more samples taken from the Turin shroud fabric would be mandatory to confirm the conclusions of our study.”

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Marina Urman

Marina Urman

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Marina is a journalist at Bored Panda. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she holds a Bachelor of Social Science. In her spare time, you can find her baking, reading, or binge-watching a docuseries. Her main areas of interest are pop culture, literature, and education.

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Marina Urman

Marina Urman

Writer, BoredPanda staff

Marina is a journalist at Bored Panda. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she holds a Bachelor of Social Science. In her spare time, you can find her baking, reading, or binge-watching a docuseries. Her main areas of interest are pop culture, literature, and education.

Ugnė Lazauskaitė

Ugnė Lazauskaitė

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I am employed as a Visual Editor in the news team. I make sure you have the best pictures near the most interesting text. In general all day I am looking at all you favourite celebrities facies and I am geting payed for it!

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Ugnė Lazauskaitė

Ugnė Lazauskaitė

Author, BoredPanda staff

I am employed as a Visual Editor in the news team. I make sure you have the best pictures near the most interesting text. In general all day I am looking at all you favourite celebrities facies and I am geting payed for it!

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PFD
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(a) This appears to be referring to a study from a couple of year ago; not quite sure why it's suddenly getting traction now. (b) The lead scientist's publication history is both extraordinarily prolific and extremely... eclectic. And has a lot of weird religious stuff in it. Plus the dating system he's employing is one that he invented and I'm not sure it's been validated by anyone else. It all says "crank" to me (though his non-faith-based stuff may be utterly rigourous). But looks at his publication history for yourself. I have no expertise in this domain whatsoever though so this is not to be taken as any kind of qualified opinion. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Liberato-De-Caro

Nicole Weymann
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, I thought I'd read/seen this years ago - and then I saw the "History Channel" logo. It's been quite a while since they last supported science/historical education, and went for the "aliens must have built the pyramids" approach. AFAIK crucifixions weren't that uncommon at the time, so even if the shrouded person was crucified 2000 years ago (give or take ~25), that doesn't make him Jesus. And "But he looks like Jesus" is particularly dumb, since all the references we have about holy J's looks are artists' fantasies and conjecture.

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Andy
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's a pretty big assumption to base your dating on the shroud having been stored at a consistent temperature (between 20 and 22.5 degrees according to them) and stable humidity for 1300 years of unknown history, to get the date you wanted

Steve Dowell
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If the Shroud is real, that is, if it is the legitimate burial shroud of Christ, then it would pose an existential issue to Christianity. You see, if this is a legitimate, then the person who was wrapped in the shroud was still likely alive, given the presence and patterns of the blood stains. So, if it were Jesus' grave cloth, that would mean he wasn't dead when wrapped in it, wrecking the whole resurrection story. Given that Jesus' death and resurrection are core to Christian belief, an authentic Shroud would be a really bad thing for Christians.

Spencer's slave no longer
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is the best comment on this. This story is in the papers on line and the comments from christians are diabolical. They're hilarious to read and have absolutely zero logic.

Load More Replies...
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PFD
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(a) This appears to be referring to a study from a couple of year ago; not quite sure why it's suddenly getting traction now. (b) The lead scientist's publication history is both extraordinarily prolific and extremely... eclectic. And has a lot of weird religious stuff in it. Plus the dating system he's employing is one that he invented and I'm not sure it's been validated by anyone else. It all says "crank" to me (though his non-faith-based stuff may be utterly rigourous). But looks at his publication history for yourself. I have no expertise in this domain whatsoever though so this is not to be taken as any kind of qualified opinion. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Liberato-De-Caro

Nicole Weymann
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, I thought I'd read/seen this years ago - and then I saw the "History Channel" logo. It's been quite a while since they last supported science/historical education, and went for the "aliens must have built the pyramids" approach. AFAIK crucifixions weren't that uncommon at the time, so even if the shrouded person was crucified 2000 years ago (give or take ~25), that doesn't make him Jesus. And "But he looks like Jesus" is particularly dumb, since all the references we have about holy J's looks are artists' fantasies and conjecture.

Load More Replies...
Andy
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's a pretty big assumption to base your dating on the shroud having been stored at a consistent temperature (between 20 and 22.5 degrees according to them) and stable humidity for 1300 years of unknown history, to get the date you wanted

Steve Dowell
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If the Shroud is real, that is, if it is the legitimate burial shroud of Christ, then it would pose an existential issue to Christianity. You see, if this is a legitimate, then the person who was wrapped in the shroud was still likely alive, given the presence and patterns of the blood stains. So, if it were Jesus' grave cloth, that would mean he wasn't dead when wrapped in it, wrecking the whole resurrection story. Given that Jesus' death and resurrection are core to Christian belief, an authentic Shroud would be a really bad thing for Christians.

Spencer's slave no longer
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is the best comment on this. This story is in the papers on line and the comments from christians are diabolical. They're hilarious to read and have absolutely zero logic.

Load More Replies...
Load More Comments
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