Two New Shroud of Turin Studies Point to the Authenticity of the Holy Artifact

Two new studies are adding to the possibility that the holy relic known as the Shroud of Turin is indeed the burial cloth of the historical Jesus Christ, and not the product of a medieval forgery as implied by the results of a controversial 1988 attempt to date the artifact. Taking a novel approach, the first study has determined that the shroud appears to date to the middle of the first century AD, and the second finds that the cloth depicts wounds consistent with those suffered by Jesus as described in the Gospels.

Having first entered the historical record when it was put on display in the village of Lirey, France in 1354, the Shroud of Turin is a 4.4 by 1.1 meter (14′ 5″ by 3′ 7″) flax linen that appears to depict the image of a man displaying wounds consistent with those inflicted on Jesus during the crucifixion, as described in the Bible. After having been housed in a number of locations throughout Europe for two centuries, the shroud was eventually brought to its current home in Turin, Italy, in 1578.

In 1988 an attempt was made to definitively determine the actual age of the shroud using carbon-14 dating, resulting in an origin sometime between 1260 and 1390 AD; this conclusion has proved controversial in the years since, with the possibility that carbon contamination skewed the test results, placing the artifact’s supposed medieval provenance in question.

However, numerous studies have been conducted on the relic in the decades since, including two recent examinations that approached the authenticity of the shroud from two separate angles: using a dating technique called wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), a research team with Italy’s Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR) compared the state of decomposition of long chains of sugar molecules called flax cellulose from a sample taken from the shroud with those of other samples that have been definitively dated to key points in history.

Provided the shroud had been stored in conditions between 20°C and 22.5°C (68-72.5°F) with a relative humidity of 55 to 75 percent for the 1,300 years prior to its 1354 arrival in Chambery, France, the degradation of the flax cellulose is consistent with that found in another sample known to have originated from the time of the Siege of Masada, somewhere between 55 and 74 AD. Conversely, the degradation wasn’t consistent with another sample produced later in Fayyum, Egypt, sometime between 544 and 605 AD, suggesting that the cloth was indeed produced in the era corresponding with Jesus’ crucifixion, and not during the later centuries indicated by the controversial carbon-14 dating attempts.

“The data profiles were fully compatible with analogous measurements obtained on a linen sample whose dating, according to historical records, is 55-74 AD, found at Masada, Israel,” according to the study text.

“The degree of natural aging of the cellulose that constitutes the linen of the investigated sample, obtained by X-ray analysis, showed that the [Turin Shroud] fabric is much older than the seven centuries proposed by the 1988 radiocarbon dating,” the study continued. The researchers also found that to make their results consistent with a medieval origin, the shroud “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.”

In 1532 the shroud was damaged by silver from melted silver when the chapel it resided at the time caught fire; to test the possibility that the heat from the burning building might have accelerated the aging of the cloth, the researchers baked similar cloth samples in an oven at 200°C (392°F) for half an hour. However, they found that after being exposed to these harsh conditions “the WAXS map of the samples was unaltered,” indicating that it was unlikely that their results would be affected by the shroud’s involvement in such extreme events.

A more recent study conducted by University of Padua Professor of Mechanical and Thermal Measurements Giulio Fanti took a different approach to that of the CNR team, focusing on what appear to be blood stains staining the shroud, and have concluded that they are consistent with wounds that would be suffered by an individual that had been tortured, crucified and prepared for burial.

“All of these results are consistent with the description of Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible and, in particular, within the four Canonical Gospels,” according to the study text. The analysis took into account the direction of the flow of blood and where it came to rest on the fabric, pointing out that “the single rivulets show a sudden change of their direction; it is probable that the blood flows streamed when the corpse was moved.” Additionally, the quantity of blood present on the shroud is consistent with Jesus’ wounds as they are described in the Bible.

A microscopic analysis of the blood revealed the presence of creatine, a naturally-occurring compound associated with stress, and evidence of microcytic anemia, a shrinking of the red blood cells that could be the result of the individual having trouble taking in enough oxygen during labored breathing.

The study may also have discovered what, out of the multitude of inflicted injuries involved, may have finally killed Jesus: “Jesus had to heavily increase his breathing and, consequently, increase the frequency of his heartbeats, which prompted a heart attack as the main cause of his death.” This finding is consistent with that of a 2022 paper that proposed that a dislocated shoulder suffered when Jesus fell during his march to Cavalry caused an arterial rupture, resulting in the collapse of his circulatory system.

Whitley applies his unique insight into the life of the individual known today as Jesus of Nazareth, his teachings and the repercussions of the crucifixion—including the myriad questions surrounding the Shroud of Turin—in his 2021 book Jesus: A New Vision.