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

Banding Again

It turns out there are bands everywhere on the cloth. There are vertical bands and horizontal bands. There are thick band, like those on the sides of the face, and narrow bands. The bands are not very pronounced but they appear to be so in photographs. When the photographs are enhanced to draw out the faint images, the bands are enhanced as well.

In a sense the background is like a faded Tartan cloth. Tartan is made with alternating bands of coloured (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. But no self-respecting Campbell, MacDuff, MacDougall or Stewart would lay claim to the pattern in the shroud. It is too irregular, too muted, too subtle.

The face is gaunt, people often say. The nose is so narrow; and the eye sockets exceedingly deep; the hair falls too straight.  True; but look carefully and you will see that the gaunt appearance is the result of dark vertical bands on each side of the face. There are faint, less perceptible bands on each side of the nose and a horizontal band across the eyes.

It is most unlikely that the linen cloth used for the Shroud was produced in medieval Europe. Such cloth was field bleached after weaving. Medieval European linen was not hank-bleached. The woven cloth was soaked in hot lye solution, washed, soaked in sour milk and washed again. Following this treatment it was spread out in fields in the sun. This process eliminates variegation.