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What was STURP?
STURP = Shroud of Turin Research Project
In 1978, a group of scientist conducted a round-the-clock examination of the Shroud for 120 hours. As Barrie Schwortz, one of the team members, described it. This group was known as the Shroud of Turin Research Project or STURP.
During this time the Shroud is lengthily submitted to photographic floodlighting, to low-power X-rays and to narrow band ultraviolet light. Dozens of pieces of sticky tape are pressed onto its surface and removed. A side edge is unstitched and an apparatus inserted between the Shroud and its backing cloth to examine the underside, which has not been seen in over 400 years. The bottom edge (at the foot of the frontal image) is also unstitched and examined...Baima Bollone obtains sample of Shroud bloodstain by mechanically disentangling warp and weft threads in the area of the 'small of the back' bloodstain on the Shroud's dorsal image...performing dozens of tests, taking thousands of photographs, photomicrographs, x-rays and spectra. A total of 120 continuous hours of testing is done, with team members working on different parts of the Shroud simultaneously. This is the most in-depth series of tests ever performed on the Shroud of Turin.
See: What did STURP conclude? Who served on STURP?
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© 2004 Daniel R. Porter, Bronxville, New York
