Some of the material in this essay is obsolete. Please refer to the
Shroud of Turin Story Home Page

The
Resurrection
Problem
and the
Shroud of Turin

By Daniel R. Porter

1. Introduction
2. "Ann, You're Nuts"
3. What we need to know 
4. The newer evidence
5. The resurrection problem
6. Vetting
7. Acceptance
8. Textile studies
9. Plant images and pollen
10. Travertine aragonite
11. Sudarium of Oviedo
12. The Image of Edessa
13. Jesus in art
14. A negative that is not a negative
15. Other visual characteristics
16. The most intriguing characteristic
17. A picture of a million words
18. How were the images formed ? 
19. Appendix: Carbon 14, etc.

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Part 8:  Textile Studies

At a conference in March 2000, attended by textile experts and Shroud researchers, Dr. Methchild Flury-Lemberg, a leading authority on historic textiles and the former curator of Switzerland's Abegg Foundation Textile Museum, reported strong similarities between the Shroud's fabric and fragments of cloth produced in the Middle East about 2,000 years ago. According to Flury-Lemberg, the cloth's finishing, its selvage, and a very distinctive joining seam, all closely resemble unique ancient textiles found in tombs of the Jewish palace-fortress Masada. The Masada fabrics have been reliably dated to between 40 BCE and 73 CE.

Dr. Flury-Lemberg's analysis of the Shroud's fabric - an exceptionally fine quality, z-twist, 3-over-1-herringbone patterned linen cloth - is evidence that it was manufactured in the Middle East on a Roman-period Egyptian or Syrian loom. A unique, nearly invisible seam is particularly interesting and telling. The seam is about 8 centimeters from one edge. It appears that the cloth was cut lengthwise to remove some of the fabric's width and then expertly and very distinctively seamed in a way that preserved the finished edges or selvage. This nearly invisible style of seaming is consistent with the Masada fabrics and is unknown in medieval Europe.

Previously, Dr. Gilbert Raes of the Ghent Institute of Textile Technology in Belgium had identified the herringbone twill as a pattern that was common in the Middle East during the first century. Raes had also discovered that the Shroud's fabric contained - within the weave itself and thus introduced on the loom - microscopic traces a Middle East cotton known as Gossypium herbaccum. The evolving Talmudic traditions (Mishna) permitted linen to be woven on looms used for cotton but never on looms used for wool. While loose wool and even twentieth century nylon fibrils have been found on the Shroud, no wool has been found woven into the cloth as would likely be the case for looms in medieval Europe. Because the wool and the nylon are loose, they are likely contaminants. Flury-Lemberg's and Raes' evidence suggests, very strongly, that the fabric of the Shroud of Turin is a Middle East fabric used in Israel around the time of Jesus.

Dan Porter is an Episcopalian and a member of Trinity Church, Wall Street, in New York City. He may be contacted by email at porter@shroudstory.com or by mail at 20 McIntyre Street, Bronxville, NY 10708. 

(c) Copyright 2001, Daniel R. Porter. All Rights Reserved. This article may be reproduced in full for any non-commercial purpose without further permission.