CSST - Council for Study of the Shroud of Turin
Current Findings
The Shroud of Turin, the purported burial cloth of Jesus
Christ, is a piece of fine linen 3 feet 7 inches wide by 14
feet 3 inches long (exactly 2 by 8 cubits, the ancient
measurement in Israel). It bears the detailed front and back
images of a man who has been crucified in a manner identical
to that of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the Scriptures.
The Shroud has been in Turin, Italy since 1578. It is
brought out for public viewing about once a generation. The
last such exhibition was in 1978, and in five weeks, about
31/2 million pilgrims passed by to view this delicate cloth.
Also, during this time, the Shroud was intensively studied
by a large group of highly skilled scientists, whose main
objective was to determine the properties of the image and
how it originated. Over 1000 special tests were conducted
and over 32,000 photographs were taken. These studies, along
with various others, combine to make the Shroud of Turin the
most intensively studied single object in history. The tests
show clearly that the Shroud images are not any kind of
artistic production but are the result of physical/chemical
changes in the linen fibers themselves. However, they fail
to explain how this occurred.
Research by Dr. and Mrs. Whanger
Studies on the Shroud of Turin by Dr. Alan and Mrs. Mary
Whanger have been underway in Durham, North Carolina since
1979. Dr. Whanger is Professor Emeritus at Duke University
Medical Center and is skilled in photography and video. The
Whangers were challenged to find a method of performing
"exacting comparisons" between the face of the Man of the
Shroud and the faces of early icons and other images. In
1981, they developed a polarized image overlay technique in
which two images are projected one on top of the other and
exactly aligned onto the same screen through polarizing
filters at right angles one to the other. When viewed
through a third rotating polarized filter, the two images
fade one into the other allowing detailed observation and
analysis of the congruencies, similarities, and
dissimilarities of the two images. This method reveals that
the Shroud face image was used extensively and accurately as
the basis of artistic depictions of Jesus as early as the
3rd Century and consistently from the 6th Century onward.
Since 1981, the Whangers have conducted extensive
examinations of a number of life size, very high grade
photographs from those taken in 1931 by Enrie. At first
look, the obvious features of the Shroud are the front and
back body images; several blood stains; and a series of
patches, scorches, and water stains resulting from a fire in
1532.
On closer examination, the Whangers have found that there
are images of many objects in addition to those of the body,
and that these images show evidence of electron coronal
discharge radiation. These additional objects include a
crucifixion nail, a Roman spear, a sponge on a stick, a
crown of thorns, two scourges, a large hammer, a pair of
pliers, and two desecrated Jewish phylacteries or prayer
boxes. All are consistent with 1st Century objects, with
Roman crucifixions of Jews, with Jewish burial practices,
and/or with Biblical accounts of the Crucifixion of Jesus.
Several findings of the Whangers show the origin of the
Shroud images to be from Israel in the spring of AD 30.
Evidence for this includes the images of large numbers of
flowers banked around the body. The Whangers have identified
28 species, 20 of which grow in Jerusalem and the other 8
within 12 miles of Jerusalem, with a common blooming time of
March and April. The pollens of 25 of these have been
independently identified by Dr. Max Frei, a Swiss
criminalist and botanist, as being present on the Shroud
from sticky tape samples that he took in 1973 and 1978.
Visible over each eye are detailed images of two different
lepton coins (widows mites) of Pontius Pilate, each dated AD
29. Some statues in the Middle East are based on the Shroud
face image, the earliest dated AD 31.
Examination of a three dimensional enhancement of the face
reveals the underlying skeletal structures, including the
eye sockets, nasal bones, sinuses, and about 20 teeth,
showing that the Shroud image is in part an autoradiograph.
There are many intriguing faint images on the Shroud; which,
through additional investigation, could further establish
the Shroud as the most amazing archaeological artifact in
existence. This could also greatly facilitate adequate, but
much needed, conservation measures.
The 1988 Carbon-14 Dating
In 1988, the single sample removed from the Shroud for
Carbon-14 dating indicated 13th or 14th century origin, and
it was widely reported that the Shroud is a medieval
artistic fake. Although subsequent extensive examinations
have shown clearly that the Carbon-14 dating results were in
serious error for several reasons, most people are still
unaware of these findings because of severely restricted
coverage by the media. In 1990, the Vatican repudiated the
1988 Carbon-14 dating conclusions, citing them as "strange"
and called or further testing. This, too, was met with
restricted media coverage.
The Sudarium of Oviedo
There are other objects in existence which by tradition are
connected with the crucifixion and burial of Jesus of
Nazareth and which warrant full and careful examination. One
of these is the Sudarium of Oviedo, the traditional face
cloth (John 20:7), which has been in Oviedo, Spain, since
the 8th century. In 1984, the Whangers reported about 130
congruent blood stains between the Sudarium and the Shroud,
indicating that both had been in touch with the same
individual. More recently, they have been actively
cooperating with a Spanish Shroud group in direct
examinations on the Sudarium.
Source : Information taken from CSST web site