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

Lignin and Vanillin

Lignin is significant not only because of the observed disparities but because it is the raw source for vanillin. Vanillin is produced from lignin by thermal decomposition. Rogers knew that if the shroud had been correctly carbon dated, the cloth should produce measurable amounts of the aromatic substance. Found in medieval linen, but not in much older cloth, vanillin diminishes and disappears with time. Rogers discovered that there was no detectable vanillin in the flax fibers of the main part of the shroud just as there is no vanillin in the linen wrapping from the Dead Sea Scrolls. There was, however, vanillin in the corner from which the carbon 14 samples were taken. He concluded that the main part of the shroud and the carbon 14 sample had a different age.

If the cloth had been manufactured in 1260, the earliest date suggested by carbon dating, it should have retained about 37% of its vanillin. Paraphrasing Rogers, Ball writes, “Let’s call it somewhere around the middle of that range, which puts the age at about 2,000 years. Which can mean only one thing… (ellipsis are Ball’s).

While this is not an accurate method for determining the age of linen because it depends on the average storage temperature over many centuries, it is useful as a sniff test for checking carbon 14 dating. Not only does this information verify that the carbon 14 sample is chemically different from the rest of shroud, it demonstrates that the carbon 14 sample probably contained much newer material than the rest of the shroud.