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

Ancient Bleaching

Before the discovery of chlorine bleach there were only two effective ways to bleach linen. One was to bleach the thread using wood ash and the other was to bleach the cloth after weaving by a complicated process which included leaving it in fields in the sun.

In Egypt, Syria, throughout the Mediterranean Basin and in Mesopotamia, individual hanks of yarn were bleached. It was an inexact process which resulted in some hanks of yarn being less whitened than others. As new hanks of yarn were subsequently introduced into the loom, a variegated pattern of lighter and darker bands emerged.