While checking images taken in 1978 Benford noticed something strange about the piece of Shroud chosen for the carbon dating samples. The herringbone pattern that is so consistent elsewhere in the cloth looked misaligned. Benford and Marino believe that the carbon dating was wrong because the section chosen for the samples was contaminated with later material. They believe the original linen was repaired with completely different cotton thread in the sixteenth century. The repair was then expertly dyed so that it would be invisible to the naked eye ... Benford and Marino argued that because the carbon dating material contained samples from both the sixteenth and first centuries, the result was in-between the two. ibid.
In 2005 just five weeks before losing his battle with cancer Rogers prepared to publish his last academic paper. He wasn’t casting doubt on the science of carbon dating, but the selection of a contaminated sample in the damaged corner of the Shroud: in his opinion the carbon dating tests didn’t reveal its true age. ibid.
After Ray’s [Rogers] death, Bob Villarreal was determined to honour his promise. He passed the fibres to a specialist. And something remarkable happened. Just as Rogers suspected, the threads appeared to be two pieces of cotton and linen woven together. In 2008 the findings were announced to the world. They supported the theory that the carbon dating sample was poorly chosen, as Rogers suggested in his final interview. ibid.
But scientific tests also concluded that the image wasn’t painted, and the cloth contained the chemical components of real blood. ibid.
It is well known and documented that the Shroud has been repaired several times in its history, including in the area from which the C-14 sample was taken. The most recent was in 1973 after Professor Gilbert Raes, a member of the Turin Commission that studied the Shroud in 1969 and 1973, was given some samples. But is it possible that other undocumented repairs were made to the Shroud? Joseph G Marino and M Sue Benford, article ‘Evidence for the Skewing of the C-14 Dating of the Shroud of Turin Due to Repairs’
Some researchers suggest that the Shroud might be a medieval photograph. Perhaps one of Leonardo da Vinci’s less publicised experiments ... Something happens when you take a picture of it. Shroud of Turin
Medieval art shows exaggerated blood flows. But the Shroud shows the blood-like marks behaving just as well-established forensic laws predict. ibid.
Other features that believers say point towards the Shroud’s authenticity include the footprint containing particles of dirt and limestone – consistent with Jerusalem. The Shroud’s very rare stitching style unknown in the Middle Ages but used in Judea in the first century. And the fact that the linen was woven on an oversized loom. ibid.
It is not only the historic content that suggests that the Shroud could be a forgery. There are clues in the Shroud itself. The image shows a man that would have been extraordinarily tall in Jesus’ time. The back is taller than the front. And compared to a normal man the head is simply too small for the body. And sits too low on the chest. Finally, there’s the problem of the so-called globe effect ... It’s a problem of geometry ... The image on the Shroud is not distorted in this way. Leonardo: The Man Behind the Shroud, National Geographic 2001
It was the remarkable similarity to Leonardo’s self-portrait that first made people wonder if there might be a link between Leonardo and the Shroud. ibid.
I call this a DNA match – there’s no question that what is depicted on the Hungarian Pray Manuscript is exactly what we know today as the Shroud of Turin. Russ Breault, Shroud of Turin Education Project
I call the Shroud the X-Files of Christianity. Is it possible that this fourteen-foot linen cloth captured the greatest paranormal event of all time? Russ Breault
We can see on the Shroud image that there is a disruption at the base of the chin that could be accounted for by something external to disrupt the image ... The strip on the side was an integral part of the Shroud at one time ... A candidate for this is the side-strip that runs along the length of the Shroud was cut off and used in a kind of makeshift manner to hold the body together. Dr John Jackson, STURP
Using the latest computer technology Ray Downing seeks not only to clarify the image on the cloth, he wants to bring it to life. If he succeeds, the world will see for the very first time the man many believe to be Jesus Christ himself. The Real Face of Jesus? History 2010
Religious believers and scientists alike were suddenly caught up in the mystery. The Shroud’s exact age remains uncertain. But it’s known to date back to at least the 1300s. This means that if the Shroud is a forgery as many contend then the forger created a complex photo-negative image at least 500 years before the invention of photography. ibid.
New evidence suggests that a secretive band of holy crusaders known as the Knights Templar may have had possession of the Shroud, or at the very least were aware of its existence in the year 1287. ibid.
Having isolated all the blood from the image on the Shroud, Downing is able to apply it to the model of the body, creating the first forensically accurate image of the man many believe to have been Jesus Christ. The result is astounding. ibid.
Firstly, at a feast day of Mary had been chosen in relationship to the veneration of the Shroud. And secondly, that the Odessa cloth itself had repeatedly been associated with her. Were the Ark, the Shroud and Mary all one and the same in symbolism? Philip Gardiner, The Ark, The Shroud & Mary, documentary & book
It seems to be imprinted like a photographic negative. Remaking the Shroud, National Geographic 2010
How could it be a medieval fake when photography wasn’t invented until at least six hundred years later? ibid.
It means that in the time of Jesus bodies weren’t wrapped in one cloth but in several different pieces. It makes the Shroud of Turin an unlikely candidate for the actual burial cloth of Jesus. ibid.
They claim that there are even older accounts of the Shroud dating back to seventh century Spain. ibid.
Perhaps the Shroud was never meant to be a relic but a focus of worship. ibid.
The Shroud is an icon rather than a relic – an icon of the sort used in the Eastern Church to increase devotion. Professor Richard Kaeuper, University of Rochester
Scientists are attempting to reproduce this image in a laboratory. Ancient X Files s2e5: Holy Shroud & Star God Temple, National Geographic 2012
Some scholars have interpreted these marks as letters. ibid.
Turin, Italy, 1978: The Church allows the most extensive scientific examination of the Shroud. Secrets of the Bible s1e2: The Turin Shroud, 2014
Locked in a cathedral in Turin, Italy, is the Holy Shroud. Millions of pilgrims have journeyed from around the Earth to view what they believe is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. Today, scientists are using modern technology to investigate the authenticity of this ancient relic. In Search of s4e7 … Shroud of Turin, History 1978
One of the most famous and fought over relics in all of Christianity is this: fourteen feet of old cloth stained, ragged, is this proof of a miracle? Treasures Decoded: The Turin Shroud, Sky History 2020
The medieval art theory … The decomposition theory … The photography theory … A radical new idea: does the Shroud hold hidden words, messages that will solve the puzzle? ibid.
The Shroud first appears in the history books around 1390. ibid.
135,058. How can one side be so certain that the writing is there when the other side is just as sure that it’s not? ibid.
Real or fake? Is the Turin Shroud a holy relic? … The Turin Shroud is a fourteen-foot-long linen cloth discovered in medieval France and held in Turin, Italy, since 1578. Conspiracies Decoded s1e6, DiscoveryPlus 2022