Three Hard Facts
The Shroud may be a first century burial cloth of a Roman crucifixion. As such, given other evidence, it certainly seems to be the burial cloth of Jesus.
Fact:
Cellulose fibers that make up the threads of the Shroud's cloth are
coated with a thin layer of starch fractions, various sugars and other
impurities. This chemical layer, which probably developed when the cloth was
washed after weaving, is essentially colorless. However, in some places, this
microscopically thin layer has undergone a dehydrative chemical change that
appears straw-yellow. The chemical change resembles the change that would
occur (and certainly did occur if the cloth is real) from reactive body
amines (-NH2 group) and reducing saccharides in the layer. And it is
this straw-yellow color that makes up the image; not paint, not dye, not
photographic emulsion, and not miraculously changed linen fibers.
Fact:
The carbon 14 dating that concluded that cloth was medieval was done on a
medieval repair patch. The area of the cloth from which the carbon 14 samples
were cut is very different from the rest of the cloth. The dark brown region,
as seen with ultraviolet lighting (black light) was produced by the
fluorescence of chemical compounds on the Shroud. It is the mended area. The
place from which the carbon 14 samples were cut is in the dark brown area
just above the tiny triangular white spot located on the bottom edge.
The carbon 14 area tests positive for vanillin (C8H8O3 or 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde) when tested with phloroglucinol in concentrated hydrochloric acid. The rest of the cloth does not. Vanillin is produced by the thermal decomposition of lignin, a complex polymer, a non-carbohydrate constituent of plant material including flax. Found in medieval materials but not in much older cloths, it diminishes and disappears with time. For instance, the wrappings of the Dead Sea scrolls do not test positive for vanillin. Quantitative counts of lignin residues show some large differences between the carbon 14 sampling areas and the rest of the Shroud. Where there is lignin in the sample area it tests positive for vanillin. Other medieval cloths, where lignin is found, test positive. The main body of the Shroud, with significant lignin at the fiber growth nodes, does not have vanillin. The Shroud's lignin is very old compared with the radiocarbon sampling area.
Chemical analysis also reveals the presence of Madder root dye and an aluminum oxide mordant (a reagent that fixes dyes to textiles) not found elsewhere on Shroud. Medieval artisans often dyed threads in this manner when mending damaged tapestries. This was simply to make the repairs less noticeable. The presence of Madder root and mordant suggests that the Shroud was mended in this way.
M. Sue Benford and Joseph Marino, in collaboration with number of textile experts, identified clear evidence of medieval mending on the Shroud. A patch was expertly sewn to or rewoven into the fabric to repair a damaged edge. It was from this patch—quite likely nothing more than a piece of medieval cloth—that the samples were taken. From documenting photographs of the sample areas, the textile experts identified enough newer thread to enable Ronald Hatfield, of the prestigious radiocarbon dating firm Beta Analytic, to estimate that the true date of the cloth is much older—perhaps even 1st century.
Fact: The bloodstains are from real human blood. Different scientists working independently conducted immunological, fluorescence and spectrographic tests, as well as Rh and ABO typing of blood antigens that prove it beyond any doubt. And several experts in forensic medicine and blood chemistry conclude that the stains were formed by real human bleeding from real wounds on a real human body that came into direct contact with the cloth. Many of the stains have the distinctive forensic signature of clotting with red corpuscles about the edge of the clot and a clear yellowish halo of serum.
There is wide agreement that the bloodstains are from a man laying on his back with his feet at one end of the 14-foot linen cloth. The cloth was brought up over the man’s head to cover his face and the entire length of his body down to his feet. Bloodstains on one part of the cloth indicate a serious wound to the chest. The patterns of these stains show that blood likely flowed from the chest area, down the side of a prone body and pooled near the lower back. Mingled with the large bloodstains in this area are stains from what pathologists believe are clear bodily fluid, perhaps pericardial fluid or fluid from the pleural sac or pleural cavity. All of these findings suggest that the man received a postmortem stabbing wound in the vicinity of the heart.
Home Page & Introduction: The Shroud of Turin Story - A Guide to the Facts 2005
© 2004 Daniel R. Porter, Bronxville, New York
