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

M. Sue Benford and Joe Marino

There was another hypothesis floating about to explain why the carbon 14 testing might be wrong. It was gaining traction among some shroud researchers and on the internet. Two shroud researchers, M. Sue Benford and Joe Marino suggested that the sample used in the carbon dating was from a corner of the cloth that had been mended using a technique known as invisible reweaving – an actual technique practiced by medieval tapestry restorers and practiced today by tailors to repair tears in expensive clothing.

At the behest of Benford and Marino, several textile experts examined documenting photographs of the radiocarbon samples and found what they believed was visual evidence of reweaving. Based on estimates from these photographs, and based on a historically-plausible date for reweaving, Ronald Hatfield of the radiocarbon dating firm Beta Analytic provided estimates that show that the cloth might be 2000 years old.

Patches applied to the shroud following the 1532 fire were obvious; as noticeable as leather patches sewn to the elbows of an old sweater. Would repairs in 1531 (a plausible date from the historical records) or at any other time, have been so expertly done that that they would have gone unnoticed when the carbon 14 samples were cut from the cloth?