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

Bleaching in the Middle Ages

By the later Middle Ages, linen producers had developed new techniques that improved the appearance of the cloth by eliminating the variegation. The woven cloth was soaked in hot lye solution, washed, soaked in sour milk and washed again. This process was repeated several times. Different solutions were sometimes used but the result was essentially the same. Finally, the cloth was spread out in fields in the sun, sometimes for weeks. This process avoided the variegation produced by the more ancient methods of bleaching the thread before weaving.

The variegation, or banding as it is often called, is visual background noise and it alters the way we see things on the Shroud, a matter that we explore in some more detail. For now, it is only important to note that the variegation almost certainly shows that the cloth was made long before the Middle Ages.