"News and Editorial," Shroud of Turin News, February 2019

Shroud of Turin News - February 2019
© Stephen E. Jones[1]

[Previous: January 2019, part #1] [Next: March 2019, part #1]

This is the February 2019 issue of my Shroud of Turin News. I have listed below linked news articles about the Shroud in February as a service to readers, without necessarily endorsing any of them.

News:
• "Researchers hung men on a cross and added blood in bid to prove Turin Shroud is real," Science Magazine, David Adam, 15 February 2019:

"Some people believe that a fuzzy, negative image of a face on a strip of linen belongs to Jesus. But studies have shown the cloth was created in the 14th century."

This is false. Only ONE study, the 1988 "radiocarbon dating of the Shroud," claimed that "the cloth was created in the 14th century." And the 1989 Nature article which reported that study falsely claimed that, "The age of the shroud is obtained as AD 1260-1390, with at least 95% confidence." But see 17Feb19 where this was a deliberate lie by the author of the article, Dr Michael Tite then of the British Museum. Contrary to that ONE study, the evidence is overwhelming that the Shroud is authentic, i.e. the very first-century burial sheet of Jesus!

"Fanti says arguments over the authenticity of the shroud can come down to faith. Borrini, a Christian, disagrees. `I have faith. Here we are discussing authenticity.'

If Fanti was correctly quoted (which I doubt) then I agree with Borrini on that point. There are those who do not have a Christian faith, such as Barrie Schwortz, a Jew and the agnostic art historian Thomas de Wesselow, who on the basic of the evidence, accept that the Shroud is authentic.

But as for Borrini's claim to be "a Christian," he is a member of CICAP, the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences, which denies that there can be evidence for Christianity being true. Jesus warned that on the Day of Judgment there would be "many" who claimed to be Christians but found out too late that they were not, because Jesus did not know them personally:

Mt 7:22-23. "On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'"

• "Researchers Strapped People to a Cross to Authenticate the Turin Shroud," The Inquisitr, February 16, 2019, Jose Aguilar ...

"Whether you believe this is the image of Jesus or not, the question of how something that's essentially a photograph appeared three centuries before the invention of photography is one that deserves an answer"!

• "Turin Shroud is REAL claim researchers who stuck volunteers on giant [sic] crosses," DailyStar, Sophie Jones, 18 February 2019 ... "Now researchers have strapped human volunteers to a cross and drenched them in blood to try and recreate the shroud. These mock crucifixions are `realistic' recreations of the death of Jesus, the researchers suggest in the abstract of their paper. The group plans to present their findings next week at a forensic science conference in Baltimore, US.

Some people believe these prints reveal the body of Jesus (Pic: GETTY)

They add they hope the experiment will `support the hypothesis of Shroud authenticity in some new and unexpected ways.' The research team, from the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado in Colorado Springs, would not comment on the crucifixion experiments before presenting them to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences's annual meeting on February 21. In the abstract, the researchers claim to have created `an experimental protocol by which special wrist and foot attachment mechanisms safely and realistically suspend the male subjects on a full-size cross'. They added the experiment managed to `test the blood flow patterns' from the wrists and forearms of volunteers."

This was the 2019 American Academy of Forensic Sciences annual meeting which was the same body which Borrini & Garlaschelli, presented their "A BPA Approach to the Shroud of Turin" paper in 2018.

Here is the overview of Jackson et al.'s paper:

E73 A Crucifixion Experiment to Assess Wrist and Forearm Blood Flows as Observed on the Shroud of Turin

John P. Jackson, PhD*, Turin Shroud Center of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO 80922; Keith E. Propp, PhD*, Colorado Springs, CO 80936; Kim M. Look, DDS*, Colorado Springs, CO 80916; Rebecca S. Jackson, MBA*, Colorado Springs, CO 80936

Learning Overview: The goal of this presentation is to test the blood flow patterns on the Shroud of Turin with actual crucifixion configurations of a human body.

Impact on the Forensic Science Community: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by utilizing medical forensics, physics, and historical data to probe and provide insight into the practice of crucifixion, using the Shroud of Turin as a possible example of that ancient practice, and by possibly providing help with other forensic problems or having forensic applications to archaeology.

A recent paper reported by Borrini and Garlaschelli concluded from blood flow experiments that the observed wrist/forearm blood flow patterns on the Shroud of Turin are sufficiently inconsistent with the studies so that the Shroud of Turin should be considered to be a probable forgery.¹ However, the conclusion of the scientific experiments and analyses of the same blood flows have reached the opposite conclusion. In this presentation, the forensic analysis is based on live suspensions on a cross with volunteer subjects, a methodology that was not used by Borrini and Garlaschelli to reach the conclusions.¹ After reviewing and discussing important pertinent historical data and archaeological artifacts related to the practice of crucifixion in the ancient Roman world, this study designed an experimental protocol by which special wrist and foot attachment mechanisms safely and realistically suspend the male subjects on a full-size cross. Professional medical personnel were invited to not only contribute to the experimental protocol and analyses, but also to ensure the medical safety of the subjects. The male subjects were carefully chosen to correspond, as closely as possible, to the physiology depicted by the frontal and dorsal imprints visible on the Shroud of Turin. A comprehensive evaluation was performed of the totality of blood flows found on the Shroud to determine which flows occurred during the alleged crucifixion process and which were of a postmortem nature. The specific crucifixion nailing characteristics and locations represented by the Shroud image were also determined. The subjects were then suspended on the cross according to those determinations. The cross and suspension system were designed to accommodate various positional adjustments of the body as appropriate.

Once the study team and supporting review team were satisfied with the validity of the crucifixion positions of the subjects, blood was deposited externally on the body at the previously determined nail sites. The resulting flow patterns over the simulated, crucified subjects were documented and analyzed. The crucifixion positions of the subjects were likewise documented.

These experiments represent an important utilization of medical forensics, physics, and historical data to probe and provide insight into the practice of crucifixion, using the Shroud of Turin as a possible archaeological depiction of that ancient practice, the details of which are virtually unknown in modern times. Moreover, the techniques that were specifically developed for this study conceivably may be helpful in analyzing certain other forensic problems, as well as in forensic applications to archaeology.

The presentation, using the perspectives from the above disciplines, will discuss how conclusions were obtained that appear to support the hypothesis of Shroud authenticity in some new and unexpected ways.

Reference(s):
¹ Matteo Borrini and Luigi Garlaschelli. A BPA Approach to the Shroud of Turin. Journal of Forensic Sciences. 2018.

If I read anything further about Jackson et al.'s above presentation I will post it here.

Editorial
Posts: In February I blogged only 2 new posts (latest uppermost): "16 February 1989: On this day 30 years ago in the radiocarbon dating of the Turin Shroud," - 17th and "`News and Editorial,' Shroud of Turin News, January 2019" - 14th.

Updates In February I completed my updates in the background of my "Abgar V: Turin Shroud Encyclopedia" post, about the c.945 Official History's account of how the Image of Edessa/Shroud came to be in Edessa.

Comments: There were no comments in February worth mentioning.

Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud. As I have had no response to my "Open letter to Professor Christopher Ramsey" of 4 October 2018, not even an acknowledgment, so now 5 months later, I assume that I am not going to get one. Since I proved in my Open Letter that the Shroud "existed ... at least 716 years before the earliest 1260 radiocarbon date of the Shroud:

"In conclusion, as we have seen ... the Shroud of Turin existed not just 65 years, nor only 316 years, but at least 716 years before the earliest 1260 radiocarbon date of the Shroud! Therefore, the 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud of Turin must be wrong and cannot be salvaged."

And therefore the 1989 Nature paper is wrong and should be retracted:

"I therefore respectfully request that you, Professor Ramsey, commence a process of consultation with your relevant colleagues. The result of which will be a joint communication to Nature advising that the 1260-1390 date of the Shroud in its 16 February 1989 paper, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," must be wrong, since it conflicts with the overwhelming weight of the historical and artistic evidence, and that therefore the paper be retracted."

I will therefore assume from his total lack of response that Prof. Ramsey knows (or at least suspects) that I am right, but he is too afraid to publicly admit that, for more than thirty years, many millions have been misled on this supremely important matter.

It cannot be that it is beneath Prof. Ramsey's dignity to respond to a mere blogger, because in 2014 both he and Arizona's Dr Jull did respond (and falsely) to one of my posts which proposed that the 1988 "1260-1390" radiocarbon date of the Shroud was the result of a computer hacking.

Since Jesus, the Man on the Shroud, is ruling over all (Acts 10:36; Rom 9:5; Eph 1:21-22; Php 2:9), I expect that eventually He will ensure this truth about His Shroud will come out (as He has been doing). And when it does, future historians of science will not view Prof. Ramsey and his ilk favourably in their failure to publicly admit that the 1989 Nature article was patently wrong in its claim that:

"The results provide conclusive evidence that the linen of the Shroud of Turin is mediaeval ... AD 1260-1390"[2].

My book: [see 09May17, 06Jul17 & 05Jan19]. In February I completed on my word-processor the short Chapter 1, "What is the Shroud of Turin?" and continued writing Chapter 2, "A linen sheet." Progress was at first slow because I had to solve some technical problems, such as how to present photographs and figures such that they will be eventually printed on photograph quality plates in the book.

Pageviews: At midnight on 28 February 2019, Google Analytics [Below (enlarge)] gave this blog's "Pageviews all time history" as 1,022,356. This compares with 855,514 at the same time in February 2018. That is 166,842 pageviews over the past 12 months, or an average of ~457 pageviews per day.

Google Analytics also gave the most viewed posts for the month (highest uppermost) as: "Abgar V: Turin Shroud Encyclopedia," Jan 8, 2019 - 147; "The Shroud of Turin: 2.6. The other marks (2): Poker holes," Mar 6, 2013 - 103; "Chronology of the Turin Shroud: AD 30 to the present: 1st century and Index," Jul 24, 2016 - 77; "Abgar VIII: Turin Shroud Encyclopedia," Jan 31, 2019 - 68 and "Introduction to my The Shroud of Turin (TSoT) blog!," Jun 30, 2007 - 65.

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]
2. Damon, P.E., et al., 1989, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," Nature, Vol. 337, 16 February, pp.611-615, 611. [return]

Posted: 10 March 2019. Updated: 11 April 2019.