Scientists Try to Debunk Shroud of Turin

(AP)  Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin - revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb - and say the experiment proves the relic was man-made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday.

The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.

Scientists have reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal said.

The group said in a statement this is further evidence the shroud is a medieval forgery. In 1988, scientists used radiocarbon dating to determine it was made in the 13th or 14th century.

But the dispute continued because experts couldn't explain how the faint brown discoloration was produced, imprinting on the cloth a negative image centuries before the invention of photography.

Many still believe that the shroud "has unexplainable characteristics that cannot be reproduced by human means," lead scientist Luigi Garlaschelli said in the statement. "The result obtained clearly indicates that this could be done with the use of inexpensive materials and with a quite simple procedure."

The research was funded by the debunking group and by an Italian organization of atheists and agnostics, he said.

Garlaschelli, a professor of chemistry at the University of Pavia, said in an interview with La Repubblica daily that his team used a linen woven with the same technique as the shroud and artificially aged by heating it in an oven and washing it with water.

The cloth was then placed on a student, who wore a mask to reproduce the face, and rubbed with red ochre, a well known pigment at the time. The entire process took a week, Repubblica said.

The shroud is first recorded in history around 1360 in the hands of a French knight - a late appearance that is one of the reasons why some scientists are skeptical of its authenticity.

Measuring 13 feet long and three feet wide, it has suffered severe damage during the centuries, including from fires.

Owned by the Vatican, it is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin's cathedral and is rarely shown. The last public display was in 2000, when more than 1 million people turned up to see it, and the next is scheduled for 2010.

The Catholic Church makes no claims about the relic's authenticity, but says it is a powerful symbol of Christ's suffering.

The shroud has been strongly debated within the scientific community. Some researchers claim that patches used in the Middle Ages to repair the cloth after a fire altered the carbon-dating results.

Another study, by the Hebrew University, concluded that pollen and plant images on the shroud showed it originated in the area around Jerusalem sometime before the eighth century.

Garlaschelli told Repubblica he didn't think his research would convince those who have faith in the shroud's authenticity.

"They won't give up," he said. "Those who believe in it will continue to believe."

[poltargyst]

So tell me, Luigi, when you rub someone's image onto your shroud,does the resulting image contain 3-D information like the Shroud of Turin's image? No? Then you have not duplicated the image of the Shroud of Turin.

And, pray tell, does your resulting image depict the anatomically accurate skeletal structure of the person whose image you've rubbed on your shroud? No? Then you have not duplicated the image of the Shroud of Turin.

And, dear Luigi, is your resulting image a photographic negative? No? Then you have not duplicated the image of the Shroud of Turin.

So sorry, Luigi, back to the drawing board.

[alarchdu]

It has been known for decades that the Shroud of Turin dated from about the 14/15th Century. It has been known for decades that the Shroud's image could not have been made by being placed over a corpse, since the proportions are wrong. But the chemicals found in the Shroud are the same as those used by Leonardo da Vinci in his earlier experiments with primitive photography (coincidentally, at the same location where the Shroud originally surfaced). It is coincidental that a self-portrait of da Vinci looks almost the same as he would have looked when the Shroud was "made".

Have we so run out of knowledge that we have to rehash things.

[jphoenixs]

Possibly the point that you missed about my comment, given the most recent news about the Shroud of Turin using the scientific method in order for those results to be credible they need to be in agreement with those scientific facts that are known about the shroud, which they are not.

Dr John Heller, a member of the STURP Team that personally examined the Shroud of Turin in 1978 concluded that the body image was a conjugate carbonyl molecule. More simply explained the body image was the result of a rapid heating or dehydration reaction of the cellulose fiber.

The current methodology was to use a red ocher pigment, if I understand the article correctly, to create the body image. The STURP Team also removed a paint fleck in 1978 containing red ocher, an iron oxide, which the late Walter McCrone, who had never examined the cloth, concluded that the image had to be a painting. Again, clearly not in agreement with the scientific facts supporting the evidence as determined by very credible scientists that examined the linen cloth first hand.

More recent research, which I may be bias because it supports my hypothesis, the body image has been described as a quantum hologram and that a singularity existed in the tomb sometime prior to the event of the resurrection. The body image on a microscopic level is similar to a dot matrix, also giving credibility to the release of subatomic particles, inclusive of a neutron flux, being the mechanism that caused the body image as proposed by my theory. Hence my reference to Quantum Mechanics, Hubble?s Law and The Big Bang Theory. For reference see the documentary entitled, ?The Fabric of Time.?

Again, my hypothesis is in complete agreement with the more credible scientific fact known about the Shroud of Turin to include the results of the 1988 radiocarbon dating.

Unfortunately, that research never reaches the media hype as dose the most recent noise about the Shroud of Turin and makes it extremely difficult to find research funding.

So far all you have demonstrated in your comment is your ignorance and I challenge you to prove me wrong as I have in the past given all the other insults received over the years. I stand by my research and science and had the courage to provide my name at the bottom of my commentary. I would challenge you to do the same.

[cnmbarfoot]

P.S.-hitting the submit button twice proves I am a clutz

[cnmbarfoot]

The Bible states that Jesus was wrapped in strips of cloth and that there was a separate cloth for his head. Debunking the shroud has as much impact upon Christianity as debunking the cherry tree incident has upon Goerge Washington. The truth is much more important and interesting than the fables.

[cnmbarfoot]

The Bible states that Jesus was wrapped in strips of cloth and that there was a separate cloth for his head. Debunking the shroud has as much impact upon Christianity as debunking the cherry tree incident has upon Goerge Washington. The truth is much more important and interesting than the fables.

[endurorob_5]

Forgot to mention the blood stains on the feet are also in the icorrect place. When crucified a nail was driven through the ankles to the side of the vertical beam.

[Virgil-1]

What has bad science ever proved?
Christians are to live by faith,not
the vain theorys of mad scientists.

[jackp32]

May those debunking the Shroud be damned to everlasting he*ll.

[slownewsday_5]

You would've looooved the Spanish Inquisition!

[rf35]

I see now value in re-debunking a debunked myth. Seems to me these guys simply had too much time on their hands.