Friday, October 25, 2024

Shroud of Turin News, July - September 2024

© Stephen E. Jones[1]

Newcomers start with: "The Turin Shroud in a nutshell"

[Previous: January-June 2024] [Next: January - June 2025].

This is the twelfth installment of my Shroud of Turin News for July - September 2024. The articles are in date order (earliest first). My words will be in [bold square brackets] to distinguish them from the articles' words.


"5 things you shouldn't miss at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress," Catholic News Agency, Francesca Pollio Fenton, 17 July 2024 ... There will also be five key exhibits that attendees can visit daily. These are the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit ... Here's a closer look

[Right (enlarge): The National Shroud of Turin Exhibit at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. Credit: Ursula Murua/EWTN News]

at these five activities open to all participants at the congress: National Shroud of Turin Exhibit A replica of the incredible 14-foot linen burial shroud will be on display in an interactive and immersive high-tech educational exhibit daily from noon to 6:30 p.m. at the Indiana Convention Center. ... There will also be three 45-minute presentations taking place each day at the exhibit. Dr. Cheryl White will give a talk titled "Jerusalem to Turin: The Shroud's Elusive History," Father Andrew Dalton will discuss how the shroud is a mirror of the Gospel, and Pam McCue will give a talk titled "Power of a Traveling Shroud Exhibit." [I have emailed Prof. White, asking her if there is a transcript of her talk, "Jerusalem to Turin: The Shroud's Elusive History," at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis? And if so, could she send it to me as a PDF or Word document, that I could post it, or excerpts from it, to my blog?].

"Scientist Converts to Catholicism After Studying the Shroud of Turin: It's a "Photograph of Jesus Himself," ChurchPOP, 19 July 2024 ...

[Left (enlarge): Negative of the Shroud face, digitally processed[XFW]

Bill Lauto is an environ-mental scientist and energy consultant who has been following and studying the Shroud of Turin since he was 14 ... "So I was a 14-year-old going into the field of science and questioning the possibility that there was no such thing as a God. I looked up Jesus Christ in the Encyclopedia Britannica, saw that photograph, and from there, it all started for me". He attests that studying the Shroud gave him faith like never before, as it is also based on reason. "Now when people come up to me and say ‘Bill you're a scientist, you don't believe in all that God stuff ...` I say, 'You're right, I don't believe, I know.'" ... [This is similar to my experience. I came from a non-Christian home and was converted to Christianity from Atheism/Deism at age 20. So as an adult convert to Christianity, with no childhood faith, I always have `tested everything and held fast to what is good' (1Th 5:21). My Christian faith was, and is, based on reason, but the Shroud has added a new dimension to it. I wrote somewhere, it may have been in a comment, that, "I am now like the Apostle John in the empty tomb in Jn 20:6-9, who found "the binding strips looped together and knotted exactly as they had bound the hands and the feet" but Jesus' body was no longer inside them:

"From his account of the finding of the cloths on Easter morning it is fairly obvious that something in the arrangement of both the sweat cloth and the binding strips assures him [John] that the body could not possibly have been stolen, but that Christ had risen from the dead. The simplest clue to this startling information would have been to find these cloths each in its proper place: the binding strips looped together and knotted exactly as they had bound the hands and the feet; the sweat cloth "not together with the binding strips" but "in a place by itself" ... still "folded together" lengthwise, and perhaps knotted at the top. In the state of glory, the risen body has no need of first untying knots"[BW57, 99].
So, from what I now know about the Shroud, I know that Jesus has risen from the dead!]

"Atheist who tried to prove Shroud of Turin was fake becomes Christian after alarming evidence," Daily Mirror, 21 August 2024, Bradley Jolly ... Filmmaker David Rolfe was a self-professed atheist

[Right (enlarge): British filmmaker David Rolfe has been documenting the Shroud of Turin since 1978, capturing decades of scientific research aimed at proving the linen's authenticity.]

when he set out to make a documentary about one of the most revered religious artifacts in history - the Shroud of Turin. With the 1978 movie, [The Silent Witness] the photography expert set out to find a prosaic explanation as to how a blood-soaked imprint of a man matching Jesus Christ's description manifested onto the cloth relic. Instead, he was so convinced of its authenticity he converted to Christianity and has since made several documentaries and published books on the shroud. 'I started off as an atheist, and then became an agnostic. And I'm now a Christian, because I cannot possibly understand anything else that could have produced that image,' said Rolfe. The 14-foot-long shroud features a faint, brownish image of a five-foot, six-inch [sic 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in.) WI98, 25] tall man with sunken eyes, wounds on various parts of his body that match the injuries suffered during Jesus' crucifixion. Rolfe, from England in the UK, has put up a $1 million prize for anyone who can recreate the shroud's image of a crucified man without showing traces of ink, paint or other agents. [A fatal problem of the forgery theory: the Shroudman's image is not painted[11Jul16], but it would have been if the Shroud was a medieval forgery. And Bishop d'Arcis was wrong that the Shroud was "cunningly painted"[03Jul18]]. He recently launched a contest in the US, calling on Americans to recreate a photographic negative image of 'a crucified man' on a 14-foot-by-three-foot piece of linen. ... Rolfe has offered the British Museum - which was involved in what he called that 'flawed' analysis - $1 million to reproduce the shroud with its famous imprint. 'They haven't attempted, not even for a million dollars,' he said. 'I am convinced [the Shroud of Turin] is authentic, I personally have no doubt,' said Rolfe who recently released a new documentary called 'Who Can He Be?' Last year, backed by his film company, Rolfe opened up the $1m prize to anyone who could reproduce the shroud with all of its 'characteristics.' By 'characteristics' he means the imprint of the wounded man. For some believers, including Rolfe, the outline Jesus' body was miraculously imprinted onto the fabric when he was resurrected over 2,000 years ago. The shroud also does not show signs of ink or dye that would suggested it was a fake - no visible trace of any paint, ink, dye, stain or pigments. 'Contestants must match both the pattern of bloodstains seen on the Shroud of Turin, and the composition of blood, including hemoglobin, bilirubin, immunoglobulin, and albumin,' according to the rules of the challenge.[This is another fatal problem of the forgery theory: the Shroudman's blood is real, human blood[03Jun17], but no artist ever depicted blood with real, human blood. Nor do those who falsely claim to have replicated the Shroud!] 'In addition, the largest blood stains should exhibit surrounding areas of ultraviolet fluorescence as noted on the Shroud. [This is enough, but Rolfe could have included the at least 100 tiny scourge marks, some of which are only visible under ultraviolet light (discovered in 1801), which also "exhibit surrounding areas of ultraviolet fluorescence"] 'When light and shade are reversed,

[Left (enlarge): Full-length positive double image of the man on the Shroud after the 2002 restoration[10Jul24]. This positive is a photographic negative in that if a photograph is taken of it with an old-fashioned film camera, the negative of that film will be life-like! It is hard enough for an artist to depict a full-length, double image (head to head, front and back), naked man. It is impossible for an artist to do it such that the positive is a photographic negative (artists have tried). Let alone containing three-dimens-ional information[05Feb17], being non-directional[29Oct16], and extremely superficial [11Nov16]! And modern artists know about photographic negativity and have the Shroud to copy. But a medieval forger woud have no concept of photographic negativity (it was discovered in the 1820s) and he didn't have the Shroud to copy!]

as in a photographic negative, the image must appear as a realistic and anatomically accurate representation of a body.' [That the Shroudman's image is a photographic negative[22Dec16] is yet another fatal problem of the forgery theory. Rolfe's US$1M is safe!] Rolfe told DailyMail.com that no one in his native Britain had claimed the prize. 'No one has come forward either from America to claim it,' he added. 'Once they realize what the actual image characteristics are on the cloth, they quickly realize that they can't reproduce it.'[Where are those Shroud sceptics who claim to have replicated the Shroud (e.g. Luigi Garlaschelli)? If they don't claim the prize, then their followers will know they were lying. From now no Shroud sceptic will claim to have replicated the Shroud, because they would have to claim Rolfe's US$1M and they would suffer the embarrassment of failing to meet Rolfe's criteria, which are minimal. In my book, chapter 17 "How was the image formed?" I evaluate claimed replications of the Shroud according to:

"Major features Any explanation of how the Shroudman's image was formed must explain all the Shroud's major features .... Claimed replications of the Shroud which do not include each and every major feature of the Shroud, are a type of `straw man' fallacy. That is, they present a claimed replication of the Shroud which does not fully replicate it, and then falsely claim that they have replicated the Shroud! Major features of the Shroud include: 1. Double body image; 2. Negative; 3. Three-dimensional; 4. Superficial; 5. Non-directional; 6. Uniform colour; 7. Faint; 8. No added colour (paint, etc); 9. Blood is real and human, 10. Blood was on the cloth before the image; and 11. X-rays of hands, teeth, skull, etc" (references omitted.].

"Shroud of Turin dates from time of Christ, scientists reveal," Catholic Herald, Simon Caldwell, 22 August 2024 ... Italian researchers have used a new X-ray technique to demonstrate that the Shroud of Turin dates from the time of Jesus Christ. Scientists at the Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR) studied eight tiny samples of fabric from the

[Above (enlarge): Microscope photographs of the shroud sample (Heritage).]

shroud, a burial garment which bears the imprint of a man killed by crucifixion, using a method called wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS).

[Above (enlarge): Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS) curves. The green "2000 years" curve is from a linen sample recovered from the Jewish fortress Masada which was conquered by the Romans in AD 74 and and thereafter occupied only between the 5th and 7th centuries by the Byzantine monastery of Marda[25Aug24]. The orange curve is from a Shroud sample. As can be seen, the Shroud sample's WAXS curve very closely matches that of the 1st century Masada sample! See 22May22; 09Sep23; 16Aug22; 11May24 & 25Aug24]

They were able to age flax cellulose – long chains of sugar molecules which slowly deteriorate over time – to show that the shroud is 2,000 years old, based on the conditions it was kept in. They deduced that the shroud was kept in conditions maintaining a temperature around 22.5 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of about 55 per cent for 13 centuries before it was brought to Chambery, France, in the 1350s; thereby taking the shroud's chronology all the way back to the time of Christ. [The Shroud's temperature and humidity assumptions are corroborated by the Masada result. The Shroud's "2,000 years old" age is corroborated by that Masada sample's age, and four other scientific tests of the Shroud's age: Vanillin content: "between 1300- and 3000-years old" - a range of ~146BC ± 850 years; Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR): "300 BC ±400 years", i.e. 700 BC - AD 100; Raman spectroscopy: "200 BC ± 500 years"[i.e. 700 BC - AD 300; Mechanical: "AD 400 ± 400 years", i.e. AD 1 - 800[25Aug24]. So now five scientific tests of the Shroud are consistent with the death of Jesus in AD 30[FJ64, 296, 300; DK15]. But since STURP found that the Shroudman's image was not painted, which even Joe Nickell (1944-) has admitted, and therefore Bishop d'Arcis' "cunningly painted" claim must be wrong[11Jul16], the 1988 radiocarbon dating claim that "the linen of the Shroud of Turin is mediaeval ... AD 1260-1390"[DP89, 611], is not corroborated by anything! Or worse, the Shroud's 1325 ±65 radiocarbon date is corroborated by a falsehood!] ... "The data profiles were fully compatible with analogous measurements obtained on a linen sample whose dating, according to historical records, is 55-74 AD, found at Masada, Israel," said the study in the journal Heritage. The samples were also compared with similar linens from the 13th and 14th centuries but none was a match. Dr Liberato De Caro, one of the scientists involved in the study, dismissed a 1988 test which concluded that the shroud was probably a Medieval forgery and only seven centuries old as inaccurate ... "To make the present result compatible with that of the 1988 radiocarbon test, the Shroud of Turn should have been conserved during its hypothetical seven centuries of life at a secular room temperature very close to the maximum values registered on the earth" ...! [This is a refutation of the 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud, by a recognised scientific test, Wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), in a peer-reviewed scientific journal! The surviving authors of the 1989 Nature article must either: 1) show where De Caro, et al.'s experiment is wrong; or 2) retract the Nature article! For some reason this 2022 WAXS experiment belatedly caught the attention of the media in August 2024, including Newsweek, The Independent and Al Jazeera! Read "Shroud of Turin discovery catches attention of world's media," Aleteia, 27 August 2024. Are we entering a second "Golden Age of the Shroud" after the first from the 1960s to 1988?]

"'Face of Jesus' unveiled by AI using Shroud of Turin after astonishing discovery," Daily Express, 22 August 2024, Michael Moran ... Artificial intelligence has recreated the "face of Jesus Christ" from a piece of cloth some believe was used to wrap him after his Crucifixion ... The Daily Express used cutting-edge AI imager Midjourney to create a simulation of the face behind the shroud. The images appear to show

[Left (enlarge): "An AI visualisation of what Jesus would look like according to AI (Image: Midjourney)."]

Christ with long flowing hair and a beard – much like many classical depictions of him. There appears to be cuts and grazes around his face and body, pointing to the fact he had just been killed ...
"Is that really what Jesus looked like? Experts weigh in on sensational AI image," Angelus News, 23 August 2024, Pablo Kay ... The image became an overnight social media sensation: a hauntingly lifelike rendering of the face of Jesus Christ claiming to be based off the Shroud of Turin using the latest in artificial intelligence technology. The image was generated by British tabloid "The Daily Express" using popular generative AI tool Midjourney as part of a story on new evidence that the Shroud, which many Catholics believe was the burial cloth of Jesus, dates back 2,000 years ago to the time of Christ. Perhaps most striking is that the new image supposedly drawn from the Shroud resembles classical depictions of Jesus from Christian art ... But how faithful is the image to the imprint on the Shroud? Not very, according to Catholic experts on AI interviewed by Angelus. "I don't think it's very scientifically accurate whatsoever," said Matthew Sanders, founder and CEO of Catholic web developer Longbeard. Because the tool involved, Midjourney, is trained on a vast collection of images from the internet and its own database, its rendition of Christ "is remarkably similar to other depictions of Jesus, and that's no accident," said Sanders, whose company has launched multiple Catholic-themed AI tools. Still, Sanders says he found the Daily Express' image "compelling" because it "conforms to many stereotypical archetypes of Jesus that we've seen" and because of how it depicted Christ's injuries and other details from the Shroud. "I don't want to diminish it, but I wouldn't put a lot of stock in what you're seeing here," said Sanders ... AI researcher Joseph Vukov agreed that the image's resemblance to popular depictions of Jesus is "not particularly surprising, because no doubt a lot of those images are part of what [Midjourney] was trained on." Vukov, a Catholic who teaches philosophy at Loyola University in Chicago ... sees a lot of promise in generative AI tools like Midjourney. But AI, he believes, isn't the ideal technology to create a scientifically faithful rendering of Christ's face. "Once you add AI to the mix, then you get all these training images in the mix as well," said Vukov ... "It's one of these cases where I think the more tech actually isn't doing anything better, it's probably doing something worse." ... Brian Patrick Green, who teaches AI ethics at Santa Clara University, stressed that generative AI tools "are designed to be creative, they're designed to embellish things" and that there's reason to be skeptical of such renderings. Moreover, tools like Midjourney allow users to choose from multiple versions of the image. "Whoever generated it could have gone through dozens of iterations of the image before they decided this one was the best one," said Green. "Every time you generate an image with generative AI, it throws in different little random tweaks to the image. And when they finally got one that they thought looked good and it was publishable, then that's the one that we see here." ... [While some may be favourably impressed by this AI depiction of Jesus, I am not. All that this AI program does (and it is admittedly clever programming), is search the Internet for depictions of Jesus based on the Shroud and combine them into one Shroud-like image. I cannot understand why some prefer to have this, the equivalent of an artist's painting of Jesus, when they can actually have a photograph of Jesus at the instant of his resurrection (a "`snapshot'

[Above: "Shroud of Turin Face Detail," AllPosters.com]

of the resurrection"[WI79, 251; WI98, 233-234]), which this above Shroud face photograph is, over my computer desk as I type!]

"Another Shroud of Turin study released: bloodstains consistent with crucifixion of Christ," The Catholic Herald, 28 August 2024 ... A new study has analysed the blood stains on the Shroud of Turin and found them to be consistent with Jesus's experience before and during His crucifixion and with the subsequent removal of His body for burial. Conducted by Giulio Fanti, a professor of mechanical and thermal measurements at the University of Padua, and a veteran researcher into the Shroud of Turin, the July report argues that "macroscopic and microscopic" analyses of the bloodstains reflect the physical conditions

[Above: "Photo: Graphic from the report showing the three principal directions of the blood pattern that were detected in correspondence with the side wound on the right side of the body; image on the left represents the side wound on a life-size model; screenshot from report PDF. experienced by a man being tortured before and during a crucifixion and then moved for burial."]

"All of these results are consistent with the description of Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible and, in particular, within the four Canonical Gospels," the study concludes. The "macroscopic" analysis involved investigating the directions of blood flow and the final position of the blood stains on the shroud, which is imprinted with the body and face of a man wearing a crown of thorns and is covered in bloodstains. The report highlights: "the single rivulets show a sudden change of their direction; it is probable that the blood flows streamed when the corpse was moved." At the "microscopic level" the study analysed and found three different types of blood consistent with the state of a body before death, when experiencing torture and then after death. The study also found the blood stains appear to reflect scourge marks that are consistent with the scourging of Christ at the pillar before the crucifixion, while the quantity of blood matches the amount of blood that would have resulted from the wounds described in the Gospels. The study notes nanoparticles such as creatine – a naturally occurring substance in the body that is linked to stress – which were found in the blood and are consistent with "the very heavy torture suffered by Jesus" and "intense flagellation". It also detected evidence showing the occurrence of "microcytic anemia", a condition that is consistent with the "extreme difficulties" Jesus would have had in "exchanging oxygen" during "extremely laboured breathing". As a result, the study explains: "Jesus had to heavily increase his breathing and, consequently, increase the frequency of his heartbeats, which prompted a heart attack as the main cause of his death."[Clearly this level of physiological detail is far beyond what a medieval forger could imagine, let alone depict! I wonder when Shroud sceptics Steven Schafersman (1948-) and Joe Nickell (1944-) are going to `throw in the towel' and admit that, since the Shroud is not "a product of human artifice," then " the man imaged on the shroud must be Jesus Christ":

"As the (red ochre) dust settles briefly over Sindondom, it becomes clear there are only two choices: Either the shroud is authentic (naturally or supernaturally produced by the body of Jesus) or it is a product of human artifice[NJ87, 141]. Asks Steven Schafersman: `Is there a possible third hypothesis? No, and here's why. Both Wilson[WI79, 51-53] and Stevenson and Habermas[, 121-129] go to great lengths to demonstrate that the man imaged on the shroud must be Jesus Christ and not someone else. After all, the man on this shroud was flogged, crucified, wore a crown of thorns, did not have his legs broken, was nailed to the cross, had his side pierced, and so on. Stevenson and Habermas[Ibid, 128] even calculate the odds as 1 in 83 million that the man on the shroud is not Jesus Christ (and they consider this a very conservative estimate). I agree with them on all of this. If the shroud is authentic, the image is that of Jesus'" (my emphasis except "this" is original)[SS82, 42].]

"Little-known study of Shroud of Turin supports theory it was used to wrap the body of Jesus," Daily Mail, Ellyn Lapointe, 30 August 2024 ... As calls for a re-analysis of the Shroud of Turin mount, more research claims to support the theory it may have actually been the very cloth Jesus was buried in. A study quietly published by researchers in Italy saw the team digitally restore parts of the body depicted on the fabric's imprint, revealing never-before-seen details. They found the right-hand thumb in an unnatural position, indicating that the hand was

[Above (enlarge[DG17, 143]): A 2017 study digitally restored the hands region of the Turin Shroud imprint, revealing the unnatural position of the right hand's thumb that may have been caused by crucifixion. Note the tip of the thumb almost completely hidden by the index finger.]

likely in a 'stressed' position that may have resulted from nerve damage caused by crucifixion. They say their findings suggest 'important indirect proof that the Turin Shroud wrapped the body of a man who was crucified alive.' ... The little-known Italian study was published in 2017 in the Journal of Cultural Heritage but was not publicized at the time. The research team from the Institute of Crystallography performed an 'intensity histogram transform' - a type of digital analysis that improves the quality of an image - to restore and analyze the hands region of the Shroud's imprint. This brought new anatomical details into focus, [Including the man's scrotum (below)!] and revealed that

[Above (enlarge[DG17, 142]): Enhanced image of the man's scrotum under his hands (the blue line is part of the larger image in the journal.). A medieval forger certainly would not have depicted Jesus' scrotum, especially when it takes advanced 21st century computer software to bring it into focus!]

the right hand's thumb was in an 'unnatural' position, lying adjacent to the palm of the hand but positioned below it. Consequently, the thumb is almost completely missing from the imprint except for its protruding end. This is important because scientists consider the absence of the thumbs to be one of the main indirect proofs that the Shroud was used to wrap the body of a man who was crucified alive, the researchers stated in their report. That's because crucifixion would have caused injury to the hands' median nerves, forcing the thumbs into this an unnatural, hidden position. But crucifixion isn't the only possible explanation for the missing thumbs ... Other experts believe that the thumbs are not visible in the imprint simply because their natural position is in front of and slightly to the side of the index finger, which would create more distance between the thumbs and the Shroud. [For my right (and left) hand it is impossible to make my thumb rest under my hand with only the tip showing. The outer edge of my entire thumb is always visible. ] That would mean that the imprint could have been made by a body lying in a relaxed, supine position - no crucifixion necessary. But based on their analysis, the study authors state that the thumb does not appear to be in its natural position. Rather, it appears in a non-relaxed inside the palm of the hand and almost fully hidden by the index finger except for its end - strong evidence for injuries consistent with crucifixion. [This was medical examiner Dr Frederick Zugibe (1928-2013) theory:

"... Zugibe believes that the thumbs are not visible on the TS image because their natural position, both for death and living persons, is in front of and slightly to the side of the index finger, at a larger distance from the linen cloth with respect to other fingers. Zugibe, thus, disagrees with the con- clusions of Barbet and Bucklin that the absence of thumbs' images is due to the position of these fingers inside the hand's palms due to injury of the median nerves ... Moreover, we can also conclude that our results, about the visibility of a part of the right hand's thumb in the restored TS image, rule out definitively the Zugibe's hypothesis that, in a relaxed supine body of a crucified man, the thumbs are located in a lower plane with respect to the other fingers, in front of and slightly to the side of the index finger, and that are not visible because they are not in contact with the overlaying cloth."[DG17, 141, 143-144]
When Chief Surgeon Dr Pierre Barbet(1884–1961) discovered that the thumbs of the Shroudman are not visible because a crucifixion nail in the wrist damages the hand's median nerve, which causes the thumb of that hand to retract into its palm, he asked, "Could a forger have imagined this?":
"Now, dissections have revealed to me that the trunk of the median nerve is always seriously injured by the nail; it is divided into sections, being broken sometimes halfway and sometimes two-thirds of the way across, according to the case. And the motor nerves of the oponens muscles and of the short flexor muscle of the thumb branches at this level off the median nerve. The contraction of these thenar muscles, which were still living like their motor nerve, could be easily explained by the mechanical stimulation of the median nerve. Christ must then have agonised and died and have become fixed in the cadaverous rigidity, with the thumbs bent inwards into His palms. And that is why, on the shroud, the two hands when seen from behind only show four fingers, and why the two thumbs are hidden in the palms. Could a forger have imagined this?" (emphases Barbet's)[BP53, 118-119]
And the answer clearly is NO!]

"Turin Shroud expert says 'face of Jesus is real' after noticing Bible passage," Daily Mirror, Michael Moran, 26 Sep 2024 ... The Shroud of Turin, which many believe was the burial cloth used to cover Jesus Christ, has been the subject of much controversy for centuries - but one expert thinks the Bible holds the answer ... Russ Breault, a long-time

[Right (original): Russ Breault has studied the Shroud's history for many years.]

Shroud researcher and author, believes there are still unanswered questions about how the relic came to be. ... he said: "The image is so superficial as to penetrate only the top one to two microfibres of the cloth-or about 1% of a single thread." ... He added that while blood has penetrated the fabric, something else caused the flax fibres to rapidly dehydrate and oxidise, leading to discolouration only around the body areas. Breault dismissed the idea that a simple burn could result in such a precise scorch mark. Instead, he referred to the Bible, suggesting a supernatural burst of energy during the resurrection, which he claims has been replicated in laboratory conditions. "While there were multiple post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, there were no eyewitnesses to the resurrection event itself," he said. "Yet there are biblical references to Jesus appearing as a being of light to Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration [Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-9; Lk

[Above (enlarge[FLW, 142]): Transfiguration by Alexandr Ivanov, 1824]

9:28-36], and his appearance to Saul (who becomes Paul) as brilliant flash of light blinding him for three days[Acts 9:1-7; 22:6-9; 26:12-15]. Both would seem to indicate an intense burst of light at the point of resurrection." [I agree with this! I have long argued that the man's image on the Shroud was caused by a burst of intense light from Jesus' resurrecting body and the Transfiguration of Jesus was a preview of Jesus' resurrected body[05Sep16; 22Dec16; 05Feb17; 07Mar19; 28Mar20; 08Dec22; 09Sep23; 11May24 & 02Jul24].] Russ highlighted research carried out by Italian Physicist, Paolo Di Lazzaro, who utilised

[Left (enlarge): Physicist Paolo Di Lazzaro managed to recreate the enigmatic image using a high-powered laser powered laser (Image: ResearchGate).]

high power lasers to mimic the extreme superficial nature of the image along with the same colouration using a 40 nano-second burst from an ultraviolet laser against a control sample of linen. [Indeed!:

"`The double image (front and back) of a scourged and crucified man, barely visible on the linen cloth of the Shroud of Turin, has many physical and chemical characteristics that are so particular that the staining ... is impossible to obtain in a laboratory,' concluded experts from Italy's National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Development [ENEA]. The scientists set out to `identify the physical and chemical processes capable of generating a colour similar to that of the image on the Shroud.' They concluded that the exact shade, texture and depth of the imprints on the cloth could only be produced with the aid of ultraviolet lasers – technology that was clearly not available in medieval times. The scientists used extremely brief pulses of ultraviolet light to replicate the kind of marks found on the burial cloth. They concluded that the iconic image of the bearded man must therefore have been created by `some form of electromagnetic energy (such as a flash of light at short wavelength).' Although they stopped short of offering a non-scientific explanation for the phenomenon, their findings will be embraced by those who believe that the marks on the shroud were miraculously created at the moment of Christ's Resurrection" (my emphasis)[SN11]. See 22Dec11a]
"This was the first time any aspect of the Shroud image has been duplicated using light," Russ added. He is of the belief that, at the moment of Christ's resurrection, a massive energy surge akin in effect to a modern high-powered laser surged through his body. [This is supported by what ENEA found, that to replicate on a sheet of linen a man's double image, the exact same size, colour and depth as the Shroud image, instantaneously, would require a battery of excimer (vacuum ultraviolet) lasers with a total power output of "34 thousand billion watts"!:
"However, ENEA scientists warn, `it should be noted that the total power of VUV radiations required to instantly color the surface of linen that corresponds to a human of average height, body surface area equal to = 2000 MW/cm2 17000 cm2= 34 thousand billion watts makes it impractical today to reproduce the entire Shroud image using a single laser excimer, since this power cannot be produced by any VUV light source built to date (the most powerful available on the market come to several billion watts )'"[TM11]. See 22Dec11b]
Backing his theory is the fact that the bloodstains on the Shroud appear to have been formed before the image of the body. This could suggest that the cloth was wrapped around a mortally wounded body prior to the image being formed. He went on: "There is no image under the blood, which means the blood must have been on the cloth first, followed by the image. This makes sense if the Shroud is authentic ... Good Friday followed by Easter Sunday. But it makes no sense as the work of an artist, in fact, it would be impossible." [See my "No image under blood #25" Biophysicist Dr John Heller (1921-95) described how he and blood chemist Alan D. Adler (1931-2000) discovered, unexpectedly, that there was no image under the Shroudman's blood:
"If an artist had painted the Shroud, the blood must have been put on after the images. We decided to check that point. We took some blood - and serum-covered fibrils from a body image area. If the images were there before the blood, and if we removed the blood, we could expect to see straw-yellow image fibers. We prepared a mixture of enzymes that digest blood and its proteins. When all the blood and protein were gone, the underlying fibrils were not straw-yellow; they were ordinary background fibrils. This was strong evidence that the blood had gone on before the images. It suggested that blood had protected the linen from the image-making process. Surely this was a weird way to paint a picture"[HJ83, 203].
All attempts to replicate the Shroud add the blood after the image. For example, Prof. Luigi Garlashelli (1949-):
"Garlaschelli reproduced the full-sized shroud using materials and techniques that were available in the middle ages. They placed a linen sheet flat over a volunteer and then rubbed it with a pigment containing traces of acid. A mask was used for the face. The pigment was then artificially aged by heating the cloth in an oven and washing it, a process which removed it from the surface but left a fuzzy, half-tone image similar to that on the Shroud. He believes the pigment on the original Shroud faded naturally over the centuries. They then added blood stains, burn holes, scorches and water stains to achieve the final effect" (my emphasis)[PP09].

[Left (enlarge): Positive of the frontal half of Garlashelli's claimed "Life-size Reproduction of the Shroud of Turin and its Image."[GL10]. Garlashelli's paper is full of plausible-sounding half-truths and outright falsehoods! He simply ignores that the blood on the Shroud is real, human, blood (see below) and instead he used "a very diluted suspension of red ochre, cinnabar and alizarin in water" which "was gently applied with a small brush" (p.8)! Garlashelli admitted that he could not replicate the man's head "because of ... geometrical wrap-around distortions." So, a "suitable bas-relief was therefore anufactured by using plaster of Paris" (p.7). But, despite relying on Walter McCrone (1916-2002) extensively, Garliashelli ignores McCrone's major point, "Why [would a medieval forger] go to all the work of preparing a statue or bas-relief" when "painting a dilute watercolor image on a canvas ... is a common sense assumption":

"I realize that there are still, perhaps, a majority of people convinced by the carbon-dating that the `Shroud' is medieval, who are still looking for an answer as to how the `Shroud' was produced. Many mechanisms have already been proposed. Some say it was draped wet over a bas-relief to which it was shaped then dabbed with powder or a paint. Some say a painting was prepared and transferred to a cloth in contact with it by pressure. However, I see no reason to doubt that an artist like Simone Martini [1284-1344] simply took up his brush and a dilute red ochre watercolor paint based on scraps of parchment as the vehicle and proceeded to paint the `Shroud.' Why go to all the work of preparing a statue or bas-relief or making a transfer of the image from a primary artist's rendering? A direct approach to painting a dilute watercolor image on a canvas of the proper size is a common sense assumption; Occam's Razor applies here ..."[MW99, 122]. Note that McCrone does not say who was this "artist like Simone Martini"!]
In fact I had mentioned Garlashelli earlier in this post in the context of David Rolfe's US$1M offer to anyone who can replicate the Shroud, but he has had no offers, including from Garlashelli. So Garlashelli must realise at some level that his claim to have replicated the Shroud was a lie and not just delusional! See also above that in my book, "Claimed replications of the Shroud which do not include each and every major feature of the Shroud, are a type of `straw man' fallacy, in that, "they present a claimed replication of the Shroud which does not fully replicate it, and then falsely claim that they have replicated the Shroud!]

According to Russ, closer inspection of the bloodstains on the relic only raises further questions about the possibility that it was faked. He remarked: "To complicate matters for our elusive medieval artist is that the blood has been determined to be type AB human blood, but not whole blood as if painted onto the cloth with a brush, but rather the exudate from actual wounds showing a high content of bilirubin, a breakdown byproduct of red blood cells that occurs during conditions of extreme physical stress ... crucifixion perhaps? [Garlashelli just ignored this. In his paper he makes a pretence of scientific honesty, but that's all it is - a pretence. His Shroud sceptic readers will no doubt be convinced by it. So Garlashelli is yet another Shroud sceptic example of `the blind leading the blind' (Mt 15:14; Lk 6:39):

[Above (enlarge)[FPB]: "The Blind Leading the Blind," 1568, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-1569)].]

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]

Bibliography
BP53. Barbet, P., 1953, "A Doctor at Calvary," [1950], Earl of Wicklow, transl., Image Books: Garden City NY, Reprinted, 1963.
FPB. "File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1568) The Blind Leading the Blind.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 22 June 2024.
BW57. Bulst, W., 1957, "The Shroud of Turin," McKenna, S. & Galvin, J.J., transl., Bruce Publishing Co: Milwaukee WI.
DG17. De Caro, L. & Giannini, C., 2017, "Turin Shroud hands' region analysis reveals the scrotum and a part of the right thumb," Journal of Cultural Heritage, Vol. 24, March - April, 16 March, 140-146.
DK15. Doig, K.F., 2015, "New Testament Chronology: "The 30 CE Crucifixion."
DL22. De Caro, L., et al., 2022, "X-ray Dating of a Turin Shroud's Linen Sample," Heritage, Vol. 5, No. 2, 11 April.
DP89. Damon, P.E., et al., 1989, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," Nature, Vol. 337, 16 February, 611-615.
FJ64. Finegan, J., 1964, "Handbook of Biblical Chronology: Principles of Time Reckoning in the Ancient World and Problems of Chronology in the Bible," Princeton University Press: Princeton NJ.
FLW. "File:Alexandr Ivanov 015.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 15 October 2024.
GL10. Garlaschelli, L., 2010, "Life-size Reproduction of the Shroud of Turin and its Image," Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, 54(4).
HJ83. Heller, J.H., 1983, "Report on the Shroud of Turin," Houghton Mifflin Co: Boston MA.
MW99. McCrone, W.C., 1999, "Judgment Day for the Shroud of Turin," Prometheus Books: Amherst NY.
NJ87. Nickell, J., 1987, "Inquest on the Shroud of Turin," Prometheus Books: Buffalo NY, Revised, Reprinted, 2000.
SH81. Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., 1981, "Verdict on the Shroud: Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ," Servant Books: Ann Arbor MI.
PP09. Pullella, P., "Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin," Reuters, 5 October.
SN11. Squires, N., 2011, "Italian study claims Turin Shroud is Christ's authentic burial robe," The Telegraph, 19 December.
SS82. Schafersman, S.D., 1982, "Science, the public, and the Shroud of Turin," The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 6, No. 3, Spring, 37-56.
TM11. Tosatti, M., 2011, "The Shroud is not a fake," The Vatican Insider, 12 December.
WI79. Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition.
WI98. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY.
XFW. "Extract from File:Turin shroud positive and negative displaying original color information 708 x 465 pixels 94 KB.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 7 July 2021.

Posted 25 October 2024. Updated 7 November 2024.

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Gabriel Vial: Turin Shroud Encyclopedia

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

Newcomers start <here>

[Index #1] [Previous: Barbara Frale #30] [Next: To be advised]

This is "Gabriel Vial," part #31 of my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia. For more information about this encyclopedia, see part #1. This post will help me write, Chapter 3, "A linen cloth" of my book in progress, "Shroud of Turin: Burial Sheet of Jesus!" See 06Jul17, 03Jun18, 04Apr22, 13Jul22, 8 Nov 22 & 20Jun24).

Vial Gabriel Vial (1916-2005) was the Curator of the International Centre for the Study of Ancient Textiles (CIETA) at the Ancient Textile

[Right (enlarge): Gabriel Vial[KD10].

Museum, Lyon, France[RR05, 189; RR08, 63; WI10, 70].

Radiocarbon dating Vial and Prof. Franco Testore (1925-2018), an Italian textile expert from Turin Polytechnic's Depart-ment of Material Science, were present at the cutting of the radiocarbon dating sample in Turin Cathedral on 21 April 1988[DP89, 611; GH96, 260; GV01, 125]. They had been invited by the Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero (r, 1977-89), to be expert witnesses to the cutting of the sample[WI10, 70]. They were also to choose the best place on the Shroud from which to cut off the sample[PM96, 48], and to follow all the operations[PM96, 48]. But when asked by the Cardinal to nominate the place from which the sample was to be taken, neither Vial nor Testore could say where because of their limited knowledge of the Shroud[GV01, 125]. So that decision was made by Turin professors Giovanni Riggi (1935-2008) and Luigi Gonella (1930-2007)[DT12, 166]. Which was to take the sample from the same corner where Prof. Gilbert Raes (1914-2001) had taken his sample in 1973, at the bottom left corner of the frontal image, called "Raes' corner"[GV01, 125], with Riggi doing the cutting[PM96, 62-63; GH96, 276].

The British Museum's Michael Tite (1938-), who was the cordinator of the Shroud's radiocarbon dating[IJ98, 162; GM98, 67; WI98, 6], had asked Prof. Jacques Evin (1937-), Director of the Lyon radiocarbon dating laboratory, among others, to find a 13th-14th century herringbone twill linen cloth, from which a sample could be provided as a control[GV01, 129]. Evin was eventually successful in obtaining from the Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene, in the town of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, in Provence, France, threads from the cope of St. Louis d'Anjou (1274-97)[PM96, 56-57; GV01, 129]. This sample was plain-weave linen, but its gold thread embroidery was herringbone weave and on the sample there was an impression which appeared to be herringbone[WI89, 6; WI98, 186; AM00, 182]. Also, it was only threads, not pieces of cloth, as the other samples were[WI98, 186]. Tite asked Evin to mail the sample to him, but fearing a postal strike, Evin gave the sample to Vial to hand deliver it to Tite, which he did[WI89, 5; GV01, 129], and it became the fourth sample[GV01, 129].

Report Vial took the opportunity to make a very careful examination of the Shroud, which he called "The Document" (see below), and write a technical report on the cloth[VG91, 7; WI10, 70].

[Above (enlarge): Dimensions of parts of the Shroud as measured by Vial[VG91, 7]. "31" and "32" should be "S1" and "S2".]

Weave Vial confirmed Vignon's 1938 identification of the Shroud's weave as "3:1 herringbone twill"[VG91, 7].

Dimensions Vial measured the total dimensions of the Shroud as "length 4.30 m x width 1.08 m"[VG91, 7]. Or ~14 ft 1 in. x ~3 ft 6 in. This compares with the latest 442 cm = 14 ft 6 in. average length and 113.35 cm = 3 ft 9 in. average width, during the 2002 Restoration after the Shroud's Holland cloth backing had been removed[LM05].

Two parts Vial found that the Shroud is actually two cloths, what Vial called the "Main piece" (usually called the "Main body of the Shroud"[WI79, 71; WI98, 72; AM00, 98) and a "Lateral band" (usually called the "Sidestrip" which Vial also later calls it). The image lies on the Main piece[VG91, 7].

Main piece Vial gives the dimensions of the Main piece as "4.30 x 1.08 m"[VG91, 7] but that is an error because that is the total dimensions of the Shroud (see above). In the diagram above Vial gives the width of the main piece as "ca 1.01 m" but that is also an error because 108 - 8 - 0.5 cm = 99.5 cm. Since the width of the Sdestrip is usually quoted as 8 cm[SR82, 41] and the seam is likely to be about 0.5 cm, either Vial's "1.08 m" width of the Shroud, and/or his "ca. 1.01 cm" width of the main body of the Shroud, is slightly too short.

Sidestrip As mentioned above, Vial initially called this the "Lateral band." The Sdestrip, which Vial gives the dimensions of as "3.80 x 0.08 m", agreeing with his diagram above. is sewn to the main body of the Shroud by a seam[VG91, 7]. The Sdestrip of the frontal image is 14 cm shorter (at the bottom left hand corner) and the Sdestrip of the dorsal image lacks 36 cm (at the top left hand corner[VG91, 7; PM96, 162]. See my "Sidestrip #5"). These two corners are where the Shroud was held at expositions over previous centuries and it is presumed they frayed and/or became semi-detached from the Main body of the Shroud, and were cut off and distributed as relics[AA98, 90-91]. At those two missing ends of the Sdestrip can be seen the cloth which serves as a lining for the entire sheet[VG91, 7] (the Holland cloth backing added in 1534 by Chambéry's Poor Clare nuns to support their repairs to the Shroud after the 1532 fire)[WI79, 262; PM96, 161; WS00, 22].

Hem All around the Shroud is a rolled hem[VG91, 7], presumably the blue satin hem which surrounds the perimeter of the Shroud that was sewn on in 1868 by Princess Clotilde of Savoy (1843-1911)[PM96, 161; WI98, 189].

Selvedge There is a selvage, the cloth's original, weaver-finished edge as it grew lengthwise on the loom[WI10, 72], along each lateral edge, at the outside of the main piece and the Sdestrip[VG91, 7]. See "31" and "32" (which should be "S1" and "S2") on the diagram above.

Original fabric Because of the cut between Main piece and Sdestrip, the width of the "original fabric" is unknown[VG91, 7-8]. Here and on future page 14, Vial states that the Main body of the Shroud and the Sdestrip were originally parts of a wider cloth, which was cut and then rejoined! Up to now, going by Wilson's:

"One genuinely big surprise from Dr Flury-Lemberg's findings within the last decade is that the original cloth from which the Shroud derived was very likely substantially larger"[WI10, 71-72],
I had thought that Mechthild Flury-Lemberg (1929-) discovered this (see 22Jan15; 11Sep15a; 08Oct16; 24May20; 18Apr21 & 21Mar23). But since it was a "genuinely big surprise" to Wilson in 2000 (see BSTS Newsletter No. 51, June 2000), either Wilson had not read that part of Vial's report, or he had forgotten it.

Technique Description: A chevron (herringbone) twill weave. The chevrons are oriented in the warp (lengthwise) direction (vertical herringbone twill). The structure is 3:1 twill, of 41 threads in the straight series and 39 threads in the return series[VG91, 8].

Weaving faults There are two types of typical weaving faults. Type 1: some series are too narrow (e.g. 37 threads) and some are too wide (e.g. 45 threads). Type 2: narrow rows for short distances[VG91, 8].

Warp (lengthwise). Fibre is linen, with "Z" twist and unbleached[VG91, 8]. That the Shroud's linen fibres were "unbleached" contradicts STURP chemist Ray Rogers [1927-2005] assumption that the Shroud's linen yarn was bleached, as described by Pliny the Elder (23/24-79):

"Pliny the Elder, who wrote his Natural History about AD 77, ancient linen yarn was spun by hand on a spindle whorl. When the spindle was full, the spinner prepared a hank of yarn for bleaching by the fuller. Each hank of yarn was bleached separately, and each was a little different; indeed, different parts of the same hank show slightly different colors, a little like variegated yarn. This effect can be observed on the Shroud"[RR08, 18].
This has adverse implications for Rogers' saponaria theory, about how the image was formed. Vial was an ancient textiles expert who examined in detail the cloth itself, whereas Rogers was a chemist who analysed sticky tape samples lifted from the Shroud. If Vial says the Shroud's linen is "unbleached" then it is unbleached!

Regularity of spinning. The warp thread was "not spun with great reglarity": neighbouring threads have diameter which varies by factor of 3. A quick sample of 7 neighbouring threads had diameters ranging from 12.2 - 31.0 mm, with average of 21 mm[VG91, 8, 10]. However, this is normal for handspun threads, and is found in all ancient textiles[VG91, 10].

Twist The "Z" direction twist is "unusual." Twist in the "S" direction is the natural direction of flax fibre when it dries[VG91, 10]. Egyptian flax was typically spun in the "S"-direction[VG91, 10; SR82, 42]. Ancient linen with a "Z" twist has been found at Palmyra (Syria) and the Judean desert[VG91, 10].

Thread count Piece 1 (Main). Average was 38.3 threads per cm. Piece 2 (Sidestrip). At only one place there were 38.1 threads per cm. Vial's estimated average thread count of the warp was 38.1 threads per cm[VG91, 11].

Weft (widthwise). Fibre is linen, with "Z" twist and unbleached[VG91, 11].

Regularity of spinning. The weft thread was thicker and more irregular than the warp thread[VG91, 11].

Twist The twist of the weft thread is identical to that of the warp thread, so the same comments above about the "unusual" "Z" direction twist applies to the weft[VG91, 11].

Thread count Six counts were taken at different places on the cloth (3 Main and 3 Sidestrip). Piece 1 (Main): Average of 25.4 passes per cm. Piece 2 (Sidestrip): Average of 26.2 passes per cm. Overall average of 25.8 passes per cm. There was a slight difference in thread count between the warp and weft. But until the reverse side of the Shroud is examined, where the weft dominates, no definitive judgment can be made[VG91, 12].

Construction The chevron is traditional, in being oriented in the direction of the warp[VG91, 12]. The 3:1 twill gives the cloth two different faces: A dominant weft face seen by the weaver on the loom, and a dominant warp face which is underneath the weaving[VG91, 12]. The image is on the warp face[VG91, 12].

The weaving method called "face down" requires the elevation of only one quarter of warp threads[VG91, 12]. Weaving a 3:1 twill cloth

[Right (enlarge): "... a three-to-one (3:1) herringbone twill pattern ... means that the weft thread passes under three warp threads and then over one"[AM00, 98]. Extract from diagram at VG91, 13, showing that weaving the Shroud's 3:1 twill cloth required four shafts (numbered 1-4)].

required 4 shafts. The shafts were operated by pedals which the weaver manoeuvres with the passage of each weft thread[VG91, 12].

Construction of the original fabric The main piece and the sidestrip are each joined at a half-series where they had been cut[VG91, 14].

[Above (enlarge): Join of main body of the Shroud and sidestrip at matching half-series weaves[VG91, 14]. But the two edges, although matching, were originally separated by an unknown width of cloth (see 11Sep15b).]

X-rays have shown that irregularities in the weave of the main piece continue across into the sidestrip (see 11Sep15c), proving they were once part of the same large cloth, but were cut apart and then re-sewn together very soon after[VG91, 14].

Comments on weaving techniques Weaving faults. Type 1 - Differences in number of threads in a series are typical in ancient fabrics and result from counting errors by the weaver[VG91, 15]. Type 2 faults reveal the method used in threading the warps[VG91, 15].

Execution of warp chevron in 3:1 twill Traditional method. Before stretching on the loom, the warp threads are passed through heddles of four shafts. Archaic method. From the pattern of faults in the Shroud cloth, this was the method used to weave the Shroud[VG91, 15]. This is evidence that the Shroud is not medieval [SEJ], but it is not known when the traditional method began[VG91, 15].

Comparison of Shroud fabric with other ancient cloths I have personally analysed a Chinese fabric from the Tan era (618-907) in the New Delhi Museum; a herringbone 3:1 twill in silk. The fabric of Doura-Europas given as a 3:1 twill is, in reality, a damasked lozenge of 2:2 twill in wool. The only herringbone in linen so far analysed and published is that cited in note 10 [Martin de Vos ... painting of The Last Supper ... on linen with a 3:1 (herringbone) twill weave. Structured

[Above (enlarge[FMW]): "The Last Supper" (c. 1575) by Flemish artist Maerten de Vos (1532-1603). The painting is 1,460 mm (57.48 in) high and 2,125 mm (83.66 in) wide, and is painted on a piece of 3:1 herringbone twill weave linen].

with a series of 9 threads straight, 7 threads return, itpresents faults of the same type as those studied here]. It is very late — second half of the XVI th century — and much simpler than that of Turin. The number of threads per centimeter in its main warp is practically half of the Turin count (19.5 instead of 38) and the proportion of warp/weft reductions is less: 19.5/16 = 1.22 instead of 38/26 = 1.46 for Turin. The important main warp of the latter thus offered a much smoother surface to the reproduction of the image. If one takes into account the three constitutive elements of a textile — the structure, the primary material, and the reductions of warp and weft — one must acknowledge that the Shroud of Turin is truly "incomparable" (my emphasis)[VG91, 18].

Again, if I hadn't read Vial's report to the very end, including the footnotes, I would have continued to believe Wilson, that the only known example of 3:1 herringbone twill linen, apart from the Shroud, is two fragments in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London:

"Herringbone woven linen was certainly not commonplace in the mediaeval European world in which the Shroud was purportedly forged. Dr Donald King, the Keeper of Textiles at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, was only able to find one possible example in his collection … in the form of two seven inch by four inch (18 x 10.5 cm) cuttings from a stole or maniple. Because this bears a printed design of foliage and birds inspired by patterns from late-fourteenth-century woven silks, it is thought to have been made around this same date. But it represents a lone example and as has been pointed out by Manchester textile specialist the late John Tyrer its texture is very much coarser than the Shroud. So the Shroud is the only known example of plain herringbone twill linen dating from before the second half of the sixteenth century"[WI98, 69-70].
Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]

Bibliography
AA98. Adler, A.D., 1998, "Concerning the Side Strip on the Shroud of Turin," in AC02, 87-89].
AC02. Adler, A.D. & Crispino, D., ed., 2002, "The Orphaned Manuscript: A Gathering of Publications on the Shroud of Turin," Effatà Editrice: Cantalupa, Italy.
AM00. Antonacci, M., 2000, "Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence," M. Evans & Co: New York NY.
DP89. Damon, P.E., et al., 1989, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," Nature, Vol. 337, 16 February, 611-615.
DT12. de Wesselow, T., 2012, "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection," Viking: London.
FMW. "File:Marten de Vos - The Last Supper - Google Art Project.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 3 January 2022.
GH96. Gove, H.E., 1996, "Relic, Icon or Hoax?: Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud," Institute of Physics Publishing: Bristol UK.
GM98. Guscin, M., 1998, "The Oviedo Cloth," Lutterworth Press: Cambridge UK.
GV01. Guerrera, V., 2001, "The Shroud of Turin: A Case for Authenticity," TAN: Rockford IL.
IJ98. Iannone, J.C., 1998, "The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin: New Scientific Evidence," St Pauls: Staten Island NY.
KD10. Koudinoff, D., 2010, "In honour of Gabriel Vial," weavinglesson.blogspot.com, November.
LM05. Latendresse, M., 2005, "Length Measurements on the Shroud of Turin," 16 August.
PM96. Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta.
RR05. Rogers, R., 2005, "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the Shroud of Turin," Thermochimica Acta, Vol. 425, No. 1–2, 20 January, 189-194.
RR08. Rogers, R.N., 2008, "A Chemist's Perspective on the Shroud of Turin," Lulu Press: Raleigh, NC.
RTB. Reference(s) to be provided.
SR82. Schwalbe, L.A. & Rogers, R.N., 1982, "Physics and Chemistry of the Shroud of Turin: A Summary of the 1978 Investigation," Analytica Chimica Acta, No. 135, 3-49.
TJ83. Tyrer, J., 1983, "Looking at the Turin Shroud as a Textile," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 6, 35-45, 37.
VG91. Vial, G., 1991, "The Shroud of Turin: A Technical Study," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 38/39, March/June.
WI79. Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition.
WI89. Wilson, I., 1989, "A French Accusation Against Dr. Tite," BSTS Newsletter, No. 22, May, 4-7.
WI98. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY.
WI10. Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London.
WS00. Wilson, I. & Schwortz, B., 2000, "The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence," Michael O'Mara Books: London.

Posted 12 October 2024. Updated 29 October 2024.

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Barbara Frale: Turin Shroud Encyclopedia

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

Newcomers start <here>

[Index #1] [Previous: Report of the 1973 Turin Commission on the Shroud (3) #29] [Next: Gabriel Vial #31]

This is "Barbara Frale," part #30 of my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia. For more information about this encyclopedia, see part #1. This post will help me write, Chapter 7, "Other Marks and Images" of my book in progress, "Shroud of Turin: Burial Sheet of Jesus!" [Right (enlarge[SU91]): The planned cover of my book.]. See 06Jul17; 03Jun18; 04Apr22; 13Jul22; 8 Nov 22 & 20Jun24). See my "The Shroud of Turin: 2.6. The other marks (6): Writing: Barbara Frale."

Frale Barbara Frale (1970-) is an Italian paleographer[BFW] (expert in ancient writings), and a researcher at the Vatican Secret Archives[FN09; OR09; BFW]. Frale has

[Left (enlarge): Barbara Frale (Maverick House).]

written books about the Templars[BFW] and a 2009 book about the Shroud in Italian, La Sindone di Gesu Nazareno ("The Shroud of Jesus of Nazareth")[OR09. See below]. The latter book has not been published in English, as far as I know. So, since I cannot read Italian, I must rely on English articles about Frale's book. However, I do have Frale's Italian book and I will post photographs from it.

[Right: Cover of Frale's book, "La sindone di Gesù Nazareno" (2009).]

This post will be primarily about Frale's claim to have discovered on the Shroud, ink writing from a Roman papyrus death/burial certificate of Jesus, which was glued to the Shroud where it covered the Shroudman's face!

Computer ehancement Frale based her burial certificate theory on the computer enhancement of Shroud photographs by nuclear physicist Andre Marion (1942-2009) and his graduate student, Anne-Laure Courage, at the Institut d'Optique d'Orsay, Paris[LR09]. See 04Jun13. Frale has a photograph at plate 11 of her book (below) of Marion and

[Above (enlarge): "11. Traces of writing in Greek and Latin identified by Andre Marion and Anne-Laure Courage: a) NNAZAPENOE; b) (I)HEOY(E); c) INNECE(M d) PEZ(co); e) KIA-; ΑΔΑ-; g) SB" (Frale-translated by Google). Photograph at plate 11 in Frale's book showing the words that Marion and Courage claimed they found on the Shroud by computer enhancement. But because some of their words were vertical, Marion and Courage proposed that they had been on two U-shaped wooden frames which held Jesus' head in position[GM99]. This was contrary to John 19:30 where  Jesus "bowed his head" and died[GV01, 108] (amongst many other things), so Frale has converted Marion and Courage's U-shaped wooden frames into a burial certificate! But as can be seen, it would be larger than necessary - by my scaling from a Shroud photograph[LM10], it would have been about 39.7 cm (15.6 in) wide and 45.3 cm (17.8 in.) tall. And surely no burial certificate would have a combination of horizontal and vertical writing!].

Courage' photograph at plate 17 of their French book, "Nouvelle Decouvertes sur Le Suaire de Turin" (1997). Frale counted at least 11 words in her study of enhanced images produced by French scientists (Marion and Courage)[FN09]. Frale stated that, "My research begins where that of the French researchers (Marion and Courage) ends"[LR09]. Frale named Marion and Courage in her claim that, "Marion and Courage were not paleographists and could not make much sense out of those words"[LR09].

Words Frale claimed that  computer enhancement of photographs of the Shroud revealed extremely faint words[LR09; SN09]. That the letters are barely visible to the naked eye[OR09]. The words are fragmented and scattered on and around the image's head, crisscrossing the cloth vertically and horizontally[FN09]. According to Frale, the words are Greek, Aramaic and Latin[FN09; SN09] in archaic script[SN09]. Many of the letters are missing[OR09]. Like the image of the man on the Shroud, the words are in reverse and only make sense in negative Shroud photographs[OR09]. They included the Greek words "(I)esou(s) Nnazarennos," i.e. "Jesus the Nazarene"[FN09; LR09; OR09; SN09], and "(T)iber(iou)," which Frale interprets as "Tiberius," the Roman emperor at the time of Christ's crucifixion[FN09; SN09]. Frale claimed that scholars first noticed that there was writing on the Shroud in 1978[OR09], presumably STURP. But, according to Frale, when radiocarbon dating of the Shroud in 1988 claimed that the Shroud was a medieval forgery, historians lost interest in the writing[FN09; SN09]. When Frale cut out the words from enhanced photos of the Shroud and showed them to experts, they concurred the writing style was typical of the Middle East in the first century[FN09].

Death/burial certificate Frale claimed  that the words were on a death or burial certificate[FN09; LR09; OR09; SN09], which was of Jesus Christ[OR09; FN09; SN09]. She explained that the three languages was consistent with the polyglot nature of a community of Greek-speaking Jews in a Roman colony[LR09; OR09]. Frale said that under Jewish burial practices current at the time of Christ in a Roman colony such as Palestine, a body buried after a death sentence could only be returned to the family after been purified for a year in a common grave[LR09; OR09]. Frale claimed that the death/burial certificates were written by low-ranking Roman officials or mortuary clerks on a scroll or piece of papyrus to identify each corpse[FN09; SN09]. According to Frale the certificates enabled the relatives of a dead person to retrieve his/her body from a communal morgue[FN09; SN09]. The papyrus burial certificate was attached to the Shroud with a flour-based glue[FN09; SN09], around the face[LR09; OR09] to

[Above (enlarge): "9. The Burial of Jesus and the Glory of the Holy Shroud, painting by Jean-Gaspard Baudoin (1590-1669), today in the Chapelle du Saint-Suaire in Nice." (Frale-translated by Google). Photograph at plate 9 in Frale's book. Note that if Frale's papyrus burial certificate was stuck to that part of the Shroud which covered Jesus' face, that would be now be the non-image side of the Shroud. This is a fatal problem of Frale's theory because her claimed burial certificate writing is on the image side of the Shroud[OR09]! See "Problems of Frale's theory."]

identify it for later retrieval[LR09; OR09]. This had been done in the case of Jesus even though he was buried not in a common grave but in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea[OR09]. The metal based ink seeped through the papyrus burial certificate into the Shroud below it, leaving a faint imprint[FN09; SN09]. Frale claims that the certificate mentions that the man who was wrapped in the Shroud had been condemned to death[SN09]. According to Frale the certificate confirms the Gospels' account of Jesus' final moments[FN09], and provided a historical date consistent with the Gospels account[OR09]. And that a fragment in Greek on the Shroud can be read as "removed at the ninth hour" and so may refer to Christ's time of death reported in the Gospels[FN09]. Here is Frale's interpretation of the letters appearing in Marion and Courage's image above[LR09]. 1. (I)esou(s) "Jesus" 2. Nnazarennos "Nazarene" 3. (o)pse kia(tho) "taken down in the early evening." 4. in nece(m) "to death" 5. pez(o) "I execute"[LR09]. There are more letters on the linen[LR09], such as the word "iber," which Frale identified as referring to Emperor Tiberius, who reigned at the time of Jesus' crucifixion[LR09]. Frale's reconstruction of the burial certificate from the lettering on the Shroud[FN09; LR09; OR09] reads:

"In the year 16 of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Jesus the Nazarene, taken down in the early evening after having been condemned to death by a Roman judge because he was found guilty by a Hebrew authority, is hereby sent for burial with the obligation of being consigned to his family only after one full year"[LR09; OR09].
The certificate ends with "I execute"[LR09] and "signed by" but the signature has not survived[OR09].

Frale's credibility Shroudie historian Ian Wilson (1941-), has publicly cast doubt on Frale's credibility[WI11]. According to Wilson, Frale, in an article in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, about her book 2009 book, I Templari e la sindone di Cristo ("The Templars and the Shroud of Christ"), stated that a document she had discovered in the Archives Nationales, Paris, had vindicated Wilson's 1978 theory that the Knights Templar had owned the Shroud at some time during its disappearance from Constantinople in 1204 and its reappearance in Lirey, France in the 1350's[WI11]. The document which Frale stated was previously unknown, described an initiate to the Knights Templar, Arnaut Sabbatier, being shown a "long linen cloth," presumably the Shroud, at one of the Order's ceremonies in 1287[WI11]. Wilson, whom Frale had not contacted, emailed Frale asking for a copy of the Sabbatier document[WI11]. Frale, however, replied that the Archives Nationales had sent her a "bad reproduction" photocopy, pages of which were very dark" and she declined to send it to Wilson and even her transcript of the document[WI11]. When Wilson obtained a copy of I Templari e la sindone di Cristo, he was surprised to see that Frale had even less detail in it about the Sabbatier document than in the L'Osservatore Romano article[WI11]! Then in correspondence between Wilson and the Shroud sceptic historian, Andrea Nicolotti on another matter, Nicolotti mentioned that far from being a new discovery by Frale, a transcript of the Latin text of the Sabbatier document had been published in 1907 by a German medieval historian, Heinrich Finke (1855-1938)[WI11]! And Finke's transcript revealed that three of Sabbatier's fellow Templars described their order's "idol" as made of wood (lignum), whereas Sabbatier's document  described it as made of lineum (linen)[WI11]. Historians had agreed that this was a translation error, and had corrected Sabbatier's lineum to lignum[WI11]. Frale, however, had translated it as the original "linen"[WI11]. Furthermore, Frale had inserted in her translation the descriptions "long" and "imprinted" which were not in the Sabbatier document's Latin text[WI11]! So Frale made that up to support her theory! Moreover, Nicolotti then provided Wilson with a photograph of the page of the Sabbatier document obtained by him from the Archives Nationales, which Frale had told Wilson was only available in a badly reproduced, "very dark" photocopy[WI11]. But actually the photograph is clear, in full colour, and perfectly legible[WI11]. Nicolotti further informed Wilson that that same photograph had been published, to accompany an interview with Frale, in the Italian magazine Fenix in June 2009 (below enlarge)[WI11].

Which was a month before Frale assured Wilson that all she had was illegible photocopies[WI11]. Wilson therefore concluded his article with:

"In summary, and quite aside from her seriously questionable behaviour towards me, Frale's so extravagant claims to the world's media as made back in 2009 simply cannot justify the conclusiveness that she so publicly attributed to them. Besides her misinforming the world in general, she misled me, and thereby seriously misdirected the line that I took in chapter 14 of my latest book … And  whilst  I have absolutely no competence to  comment on Dr Frale's more recent  claims to have  discovered Aramaic lettering on the Shroud,  it is hard for me to  avoid harbouring the strongest doubts concerning these also ..." (my emphasis)
Problems of Frale's theory

Computer enhancement Since Frale's 'writing on the Shroud' theory is based on Marion and Courage's computer enhancement, problems of their theory (see again 04Jun13) are problems of Frale's theory. In my book I will have covered Marion and Courage's theory before Frale's.

Words Frale admitted that her letters are barely visible to the naked eye. But if she cannot show publicly where they are on the Shroud, then it is because they are not really there but exist only in Frale's imagination!

Frale also admits that many of the letters are missing. Indeed most of them are missing! But if her claimed words are not substantially complete, they are not words at all, and therefore not even letters, but just random shapes in the weave vaguely resembling letters. For example, the Greek words translated "Jesus the Nazarene" in Mt 26:71 are "Iēsous ho Nazōraios," ("IHSOUS HO NAZORAIOS" in capitals), which are 17 letters all together in one direction. But according to Frale above the "words are fragmented and scattered ... crisscrossing the cloth vertically and horizontally! Frale's copy above in her book, of  Marion and Courage's photograph of claimed words, Frale's caption includes the letters "HSOY" (Greek ΗΣΟΥ)," supposedly "Jesus," diagonally below the chin and "NNAZAPENOE" (Greek ΝΝΑΖΑΡΕΝΟΕ)," supposedly "the Nazarene," vertically alongside the man's face! So they are not the name "Jesus the Nazarene." And neither are "HEOY" and "NNAZAPENOE" found in the New Testament, according to my "Analytical Greek Lexicon" which lists in Greek alphabet order every Greek word in the New Testament[AG70].

Why are the letters in reverse and only make sense in negative photographs? If the letters "IBER" (using one of Frale’s claimed words as an example) are written on porous paper (representing a papyrus certificate), they do appear on the other side of that paper as "IBER", in reverse. But then if that "IBER" in reverse soaks through to an underneath sheet of porous paper (representing the Shroud), it appears on that underneath sheet of paper (the Shroud) as "IBER" again!

And why would the burial certificate of a crucified Jew include the name of the Roman emperor? And if it did, why wasn't it his official name, "Tiberius Caesar" (Lk 3:1)?

The only scholars who examined the Shroud in 1978 was STURP. And it is false that STURP noticed that there was writing on the Shroud in 1978. The first sentence of STURP's October 1981 Final Report stated: "No pigments, paints, dyes or stains have been found on the [Shroud's] fibrils"[SS81], and that includes ink. So Frale made this up!

Why did Frale cut out her claimed words from Marion and Courage's enhanced photograph of the Shroud to show them to experts? Why did she not show them copies of the photograph and ask them if they saw any words? Assuming that this is even true and not another made up claim by Frale?

Death/burial certificate Why would the words on first century Jerusalem burial certificates be written in Greek, Aramaic and Latin, when Frale claimed they were to enable Greek-speaking Jews to identify the bodies of their deceased relatives? For that, Greek alone would have been sufficient.

Why would the words on a burial certificate be "fragmented and scattered ... crisscrossing the cloth vertically and horizontally"?

Why under Jewish burial practices in a first century Roman colony could a body buried after a Roman death sentence only be returned to the family after been purified for a year in a common grave? For starters, this is refuted by Jesus' burial in Joseph of Arimathea's private cave-tomb[Mt 27:57-60; Mk 15:43-46; Lk 23:50-53; Jn 19:38-42]. The brutal Romans would not have altruistically provided a free written death/burial certificate service, and a free communal mortuary service, for Jewish criminals! In every first century Roman colony! This is a fatal problem of Frale's theory, and so she must have made it up also!

Since Old Testament times, the norm for Jewish burials was: 1) To be buried in the family rock-cut cave tomb, and 2) promptly "including that of the bodies of hung criminals":

"BURIAL AND MOURNING. I. In the Old Testament a. The times of the Patriarchs It was customary for successive generations to be buried in the family tomb (cave or rock-cut); thus Sarah (Gn. 23:19), Abraham (Gn. 25:9), Isaac and Rebekah, Leah (Gn. 49:31) and Jacob (Gn. 50:13) were all buried in the cave of Machpelah, E of Hebron. Individual burial was sometimes necessitated by death at a distance from the family tomb; so Deborah near Bethel (Gn. 35:8) and Rachel on the road to Ephrath (Gn. 35:19-20), their tombs being marked by an oak and a pillar respectively ... b. The Pentateuchal legislation Prompt burial, including that of the bodies of hung criminals, was the norm (Dt. 21:22-23) ... c. Israel in Palestine (i) Burial. When possible, people were buried in the ancestral inheritance in a family tomb: so Gideon and Samson (Jdg. 8:32; 16:31), Asahel and Ahithophel (2 Sa. 2:32; 17:23), and eventually Saul (2 Sa. 21:12-14)"[KA82, 151].
How could there have been a communal morgue in first century Jerusalem, before the invention of refrigeration in the 19th century[RFW]? A communal morgue before refrigeration, in which bodies were continully being added, would be filled with an overpowering stench of decomposing corpses, including the poisonous decomposition gas hydrogen sulfide[DCW]. As well as blowflies[DCW] carrying diseases to the deceased's relatives who entered the morgue and the citizens of Jerusalem beyond it. This is a fatal problem of Frale's theory, and she must have made it up!

Why was there a burial certificate for Jesus when he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, as Frale acknowledges? According to Frale the purpose of a Roman burial certificate was to enable the relatives of a dead Jewish criminal to retrieve his/her body from a communal morgue after a year. But since Jesus' body was was not taken into a Roman communal mortuary, there would be no reason for there to be a burial certificate attached to his Shroud. This is a another fatal problem of Frale's theory, and again she must have also made it up!

Frale claims that the papyrus burial certificate was attached to the Shroud with a flour-based glue, around the face to identify it for later retrieval (see above). But as pointed out above, that part of the Shroud which covered Jesus' face underneath it, is now the non-image side of the Shroud. This is yet another fatal problem of Frale's theory because her claimed burial certificate writing is on the image side of the Shroud! So again, Frale must have made this up.

Frale further claimed that the metal based ink seeped through the papyrus burial certificate into the Shroud below it, leaving a faint imprint. But this would mean that the ink did not quickly dry but seeped right through the papyrus burial certificate to its underside, and then continued to seep through to the underlying Shroud. But this would be the non-image side (see above), so Frale, to save her theory, would need to claim that the ink continued to seep right through the Shroud to its underneath image side! But an ink which did not quickly dry on the surface it first contacted, but kept seeping through its original document (the hypothetical papyrus burial certificate), and then continued to seep all the way through an underlying document (the Shroud), would be unusable and would not exist beyond its first testing! This is another fatal problem of Frale's theory, so again she must have made it up!

According to Microsoft Word, Frale's reconstruction of Jesus' burial certificate above has 58 words and 155 letters! Yet Frale counted only 11 words in Marion and Courage's computer enhanced Shroud photograph above! As pointed out above, "ΗΣΟΥ" supposedly "Jesus," and "ΝΝΑΖΑΡΕΝΟΕ" supposedly "the Nazarene," are nowhere near each other. On plate 10 of Frale's book, "IBER" is only the two letters "ie"! So again, Frale made up her reconstructed `burial certificate' out of random shapes in the Shroud's weave, or out of thin air! This also is a fatal problem of Frale's theory.

Conclusion As we have seen, there are at least six fatal problems with Frale's theory that the Shroud has imprinted on it the faint ink writing of Jesus' burial certificate:

  1. The Romans would not have provided a free written death/burial certificate service, and a free communal mortuary service, for Jewish criminals, in every first century Roman colony!
  2. There could not have been a communal morgue in first century Jerusalem (or anywhere), before the invention of refrigeration in the 19th century.
  3. Jesus would not have had a burial certificate so that his relatives could retrieve his body from a Roman communal morgue after a year, because (apart from there wasn't one) Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
  4. Frale claims that the papyrus burial certificate was attached to the Shroud covering Jesus' face, but that part of the Shroud is now its non-image side (see above), so Frale's writing cannot be on the same side as the man's image! (This is a fatal problem of some (if not all) other `writing on the Shroud' theories)!
  5. An ink would dry quickly on Frale's papyrus burial certificate and not remain liquid to seep right through it and then through both sides of the Shroud under it to imprint its image side.
  6. Frale's reconstruction of Jesus' burial certificate is self-evidently made up by her. Marion and Courage's computer enhanced Shroud photograph that Frale's burial certificate is based on has 11 words but Frale's reconstruction has 58 words! The words "Jesus the Nazarene" are together in Frale's reconstruction but they are far apart in Marion and Courage's photograph.

We have seen that Frale made up out of thin air the words "long" and "imprinted" to support her theory that the Templars' idol was the Shroud. The above at least six fatal problems with Frale's theory that the Shroud has imprinted on it writing of a Roman burial certificate bearing Jesus' name, must also have been made up by Frale. I presume the reason there has been after ~5 years no English translation of Frale's 2009 La sindone di Gesù Nazareno book is because Frale's claims in it are so self-evidently false that the English publisher, Maverick House rejected it!

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]

Bibliography
AG70. Bagster, S., ed., 1870, "The Analytical Greek Lexicon," Samuel Bagster and Sons: London, c. 1960, reprinted
BFW. "Barbara Frale," Wikipedia, 26 September 2024.
DCW. "Decomposition," Wikipedia, 17 August 2024.
FN09. "Does Hidden Text Prove Shroud of Turin Real?," Fox News, 20 November 2009.
GM99. Guscin, M., 1999, "Purported Inscriptions on the Shroud Claimed by French Researchers Marion and Courage - Are They Really There?" British Society for the Turin Shroud Newsletter, November.
GV01. Guerrera, V., 2001, "The Shroud of Turin: A Case for Authenticity," TAN: Rockford IL.
KA82. Kitchen, K.A., "Burial and mourning," in Douglas, J.D., et al., eds., "New Bible Dictionary," [1962], Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester UK, Second edition, 1982, Reprinted, 1988.
LM10. Extract from Latendresse, M., 2010, "Shroud Scope: Durante 2002 Vertical," Sindonology.org.
LR09. Lorenzi, R, 2009, "Big Pic: Close-Up of Latest Shroud of Turin Claim," Discovery News 24 November.
OR09. Owen, R., 2009, "Death certificate is imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican scholar in Rome," The Times, 21 November.
RFW. "Refrigeration," Wikipedia, 18 August 2024.
SN09. Squires, N., 2009,  "Jesus Christ's 'death certificate' found on Turin Shroud," The Telegraph, 20 November.
SS81. "A Summary of STURP's Conclusions," October 1981, Shroud.com.
SU91. "Shroud University - Exploring the Mystery Since 33 A.D.," Shroud of Turin Education Project, Inc., Peachtree City, GA.
WI11. Wilson, I., 2011, "The Shroud, the Knights Templar and Barbara Frale," BSTS Newsletter, No. 73, June.

Posted 29 September 2024. Updated 16 October 2024.