Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

The Making of Linen

Here is roughly what we know: After harvesting flax plants, the long stems are threshed to remove seeds, leaves and roots so that only a stalk remains. In a step called retting, the stalks are then placed in pools of water or streams to rot away most of the stems while leaving the cellulose fibers intact.  The remaining material was then scotched, which means simply that it was scraped to remove remaining woody material from the stalk. Then it was hackled or combed to separate various grades of fibers. The finest, longest strands are used for what Pliny called bysus, a word derived from the biblical words bus and shesh, meaning fine linen. (Linen is also called peshet and pishta in the Old Testament and kittan in the 2^nd century Mishnah.)

Only two steps remain before weaving. The first is to twist or spin dozens of the fibers together into thread. The next is to bleach the thread, which is often tan or gray.