Index: On this day 30 years ago in the radiocarbon dating of the Turin Shroud

© Stephen E. Jones[1]

As next year, 2018, will include the 30th anniversary of the radiocarbon dating of the Turin Shroud, starting on 6 May 1988 at Arizona radiocarbon dating laboratory, when the Shroud was dated "AD 1350"[2]; to the announcement on 13 October 1988 that the

[Above (enlarge): From left to right, Prof. E. Hall (Oxford), Dr M. Tite (British Museum) and Dr R. Hedges (Oxford) announcing on 13 October 1988 that the Shroud of Turin had been radiocarbon dated to "1260-1390!"[3].]

Shroud's radiocarbon date was "1260-1390!" (see above); through to a paper in Nature, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," on 16 February 1989, that "... the linen of the Shroud of Turin is mediaeval ... AD 1260-1390 ..."[4].

So I have decided to start a series, "On this day 30 years ago in the radiocarbon dating of the Turin Shroud," where I will cover each significant day 30 years ago, that led up to the radiocarbon dating of the Shroud, the radiocarbon dating itself, and its aftermath. In this way readers will `live through' that radiocarbon dating and see for themselves what a flawed process it was. Including that the 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud was the result of a computer hacking! This part #1 will be an index of each post in this series linked to each date 30 years ago (in the format "27Apr87"). The first few significant days 30 years ago have already passed, but I will catch up and thereafter I will publish each day's post as close to its 30th anniversary as possible, bearing mind my other posting commitments.

[Next: 27Apr87] [Index: 30May88 #1, 27Apr87 #2, 06May87 #3, 15Jun87 #4, 29Jun87 #5, 10Oct87 #6, 18Nov87 #7, 22Jan88 #8, 25Mar88 #9, 21Apr88 #10, 06May88 #11, 03Jul88 #12, 13Oct88 #13, 16Feb89 #14, Mar89 #15, 23May89 #16 & 04Jun89 #17]

Continued in part #2 of this series.

Notes
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to quote from any part of this post (but not the whole post), provided it includes a reference citing my name, its subject heading, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page[return]
2. Gove, H.E., 1996, "Relic, Icon or Hoax?: Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud," Institute of Physics Publishing: Bristol UK, p.264. [return]
3. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY, pp.6-7 & pl.3b. [return]
4. Damon, P.E., 1989, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," Nature, Vol. 337, 16th February, pp.611-615, 611. [return]

Posted: 30 May 2017. Updated: 13 March 2021.