Italian Scientist Raises Doubts Over Authenticity of the Shroud of Turin

Italian scientist Luigi Garlaschelli says that he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, an accomplishment that he claims definitively proves that the linen some Christians regard as Jesus Christ's burial cloth is nothing more than medieval fake.

The Shroud of Turin bears an image of a crucified man that some believers say is Christ. On both the back and front, it shows a bearded man with long hair and his arms crossed on his chest. The entire cloth is also marked by what looks to be rivulets of blood from wounds at the wrists, feet, and side.

Garlaschelli, who is due to illustrate his results at a conference this weekend in northern Italy, says of his reproduction:

"We have shown that it is possible to reproduce something that has the same characteristics as the Shroud."

In 1998, speculation was first raised when carbon dating of the cloth dated it from between 1260 and 1390, and scientists have thus far been at a loss to explain how the image was left on the cloth. Garlaschelli was able to reproduce the full size shroud using materials and techniques available in the Middle Ages.

He placed a linen sheet flat over a volunteer and then rubbed the cloth with a pigment containing traces of acid, and a mask was used for the face. Then, the pigment was artificially aged by heating the cloth in an oven and washing it and bloodstains, burn holes, scorches and water stains were added to achieve the final effect.

In 2005, it was claimed that the sample dated by the researchers in 1988 was taken from an area of the shroud that was not a part of the original cloth. Chemically, the piece tested is not the same as the rest of the shroud. It was also damaged by a fire in the Late Middle Ages, which may have added carbon material to the cloth, which would result in a higher radiocarbon content and a later calculated age.

In early 2009, new research and testing by researchers at the Ohio State University discredited 1988 test, and revealed the linen to be at least twice as old as the original test in 1988 revealed. They also said "As for the images, we have no idea how they are formed. But they were not made by any known artistic method."

If the 2005 and 2009 research is thus to be believed, then it would also invalidate Garlaschelli's hypothesis that the Shroud of Turin was artificially manufactured in the Middle Ages; it would simply be too old for that to be true.