Friday, October 10, 2025

My critique of Sarzeaud, N., 2025, "Further evidence suggests Jesus was not wrapped in 'Shroud of Turin'," Scimex, 29 Aug 2025

© Stephen E. Jones[1]

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

This is the seventeenth instalment of My critique of Sarzeaud, N., 2025, "Further evidence suggests Jesus was not wrapped in 'Shroud of Turin'," Scimex, 29 Aug 2025. It was originally an item of my Shroud of Turin News, but I realised it would be too long for that. My words will be in [bold square brackets] to distinguish them from those of the article's.

Today (25 October 2025) I Googled "Shroud of Turin" and I noticed the "AI Overview":

"The Shroud of Turin: Ancient Relic or Artistic Masterpiece? ... The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth bearing the faint image of a crucified man, believed by many to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, though its authenticity is debated. While 1988 radiocarbon dating placed its origin between 1260 and 1390 AD, other scientific analyses of the image and bloodstains suggest they were formed in a way not yet fully understood and are consistent with the biblical account of Jesus's suffering. The image is a negative with three-dimensional information, and some modern studies question previous assumptions about its formation" (my emphasis)!
This is consistent with my assumption about this article that the sceptics realise that they are losing in the court of public opinion and are desperate to turn this around. However, they won't do it with such a pathetic beat up that a 14th century philosopher, Nicole Oresme, who had never seen the Shroud, mentioned in a footnote, a rumour ("it is said"), that in the 1355 exposition of "the shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ" at Lirey, France, the "clergy" deceived the public to "elicit offerings for their church ...," which was false (see below). And Oresme did not dispute that it was "the shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ"!


"Further evidence suggests Jesus was not wrapped in 'Shroud of Turin',"Scimex, 29 August 2025.

[Right (enlarge): Full-length negative image of the Shroud (Wikipedia)[STW]. Could an unknown medieval forger really have created this? Or does Naturalism's Emperor have no clothes?]

[Today (10 October 2025) I discovered the media release that all the news articles about medieval philosopher Nicole Oresme (1325-82)'s supposed rejection of the Shroud are based on, so I will start again and respond to that.]

A newly uncovered Medieval document has added further evidence to suggest that the famous Shroud of Turin was not authentic.

[This latest "evidence ... that the Shroud ... is not authentic" is a mere footnote (see below)! Nicole Oresme, a 14th century philosopher who had never seen the Shroud (because for ~30 years from 1359 to 1389, following the widowed Jeanne de Vergy (c.1332–1428)'s marriage to Aymon IV of Geneva, the Shroud had been taken to Anthon in High Savoy[13Apr18] and even Bishop Pierre d'Arcis did not know where it was[27Dec14] until after Oresme had died in 1382), in a footnote wrote:

"I do not need to believe those who say: 'So-and-so performed this or that miracle for me,' because in this way many clerics deceive others, inducing them to bring offerings to their churches. This is clear from the example of the church in Champagne, where it was said that it was the Shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ, and from the seemingly endless number of others who have invented this or that"[PA25].
That's it! In the above footnote, Oresme does not dispute that the Shroud exhibited at "the church in Champagne" (i.e. the Church of St Mary, Lirey, France[13Aprl8]) was "the Shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ." His topic is not the Shroud but the claim by "clerics" that their relics worked miracles, deceiving their followers and "inducing them to bring offerings to their churches." Oresme's example of "the church in Champagne" is evidently based on the rumour ("it is said"), later made explicit by the Bishop of Troyes, Pierre d'Arcis (r. 1377-95) in his 1389 Memorandum, about the Shroud's 1356 exposition, that because "from all parts people came together to view" the Shroud, the de Charny's and/or the Lirey church canons must have made a lot of money from it:
"This story was put about not only in the kingdom of France, but, so to speak, through out the world, so that from all parts people came together to view it. And further to attract the multitude so that money might cunningly be wrung from them, pretended miracles were worked, certain men being hired to represent themselves as healed at the moment of the exhibition of the shroud, which all believed to be the shroud of our Lord"[WI79, 267].
But as I pointed out in my post of 16Dec24:
• The evidence is overwhelming that the Shroud is "the shroud of our Lord." So it is possible that there were real miracles of healing associated with that first undisputed exposition of the Shroud. • Neither Geoffroy I de Charny's widow, Jeanne de Vergy, nor the Lirey church, were wealthy after the c. 1355 exposition. Following her husband's 1356 death, Jeanne had to appeal to the young future king Charles V (r. 1364-80) for her infant son Geoffroy II (1352-98) to be granted the two houses in Paris that Charles' captured father, King John II (r. 1350-64) had promised Geoffroy I (c. 1306-56) ... • And the small wooden Lirey church fell into disrepair ... until it was replaced in stone over 170 years later in 1526 ... [which d'Arcis knew up to 1395, when he ceased being the Bishop of Troyes, because Lirey is only ~12 miles (~20 km) from Troyes[13Apr18].]. • Yet according to d'Arcis ... Jeanne de Vergy, and/or the Lirey church, would have been fabulously wealthy from all that "money" they allegedly had "cunningly ... wrung from" the "multitude"! • I could have added that "Simony ... the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things" was a major crime in the Middle Ages and d'Arcis or his predecessor Henri de Poitiers (r. 1354–70), would have prosecuted Jeanne de Vergy and/or the Lirey church canons if they had made a lot of money from exhibiting the Shroud. • This is ... evidence that d'Arcis was not simply mistaken, but was actually lying in his Memorandum!]

The linen cloth, which many believe was used to wrap the crucified body of Jesus, is called into question in this new document, which is described as the first-ever written, ‘official’ and highly respected rejection of the Shroud presented to-date. [It is laughable that Sarzeaud thinks that the overwhelming evidence that the Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet could be "called into question" by a mere footnote (see above), by Oresme, a 14th century philosopher, who had never seen the Shroud (see above), and who in his footnote did not dispute that the Shroud exhibited at the church in Champagne was the Shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ (see above). And it is not a "document" but a footnote (see above)! And while it is "the first-ever written ... rejection of the Shroud" by a named Shroud sceptic that has survived, it is hardly "‘official’ and highly respected," since, as Sarzeaud says in in this media release (see future below), it was only recently discovered by "historians Alain Boureau [1946-] and Béatrice Delaurenti [1972-]." I am going to keep track of Sarzeaud's rhetoric ("highly respected" - see above) by which he seeks to enhance his weak case! See also below that Sarzeaud's mentor Andrea Nicolotti "operates a systematic exaltation of the scholars who believe the Shroud to be false ..."

Also, in 1978, ~47 years ago, Ian Wilson (1941-) published an English translation of the 1389 Memorandum of Bishop Pierre d'Arcis, in which d'Arcis stated:

"For many theologians and other wise persons declared that this could not be the real shroud of our Lord having the Saviour's likeness thus imprinted upon it, since the holy Gospel made no mention of any such imprint, while, if it had been true, it was quite unlikely that the holy Evangelists would have omitted to record it, or that the fact should have remained hidden until the present time"[WI78, 230].
So there were many Shroud sceptics in d'Arcis' and Oresme's day. That is understandable because it was not until Secondo Pia (1855-1941) photographed the Shroud in 1898[05Jun21], more than 500 years after Oresme's footnote, and discovered that the Shroudman's image was a photographic negative (see above)[22Dec16; 05Jun21], that scientists and the general public began to take the Shroud seriously as possibly Jesus' burial sheet.]

The statement was written by Norman theologian Nicole Oresme, who later became the Bishop of Lisieux in France. [Oresme was not a "theologian." Wikipedia says he was "a French philosopher of the later Middle Ages ... [who] wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astrology, astronomy, philosophy, and theology"[ONW]. Nicolas Sarzeaud (1992-) boosts Oresme, such that it is more about what Sarzeaud thinks about the Shroud than what Oresme thought about it! It reminds me of the joke about the preacher's sermon note which read, "argument weak here - shout"!]

His opinion is particularly useful, according to the researchers, because he was well known for working to provide rational explanations for unexplained phenomena (rather than interpreting them as divine or demonic), and he was not personally involved in the dispute – so had no interest in supporting his own position. [See above that Oresme did not express an opinion on the Shroud. And if he had, it would have been worthless, since, as we saw above, Oresme had never seen the Shroud. And as for it being "useful ... to provide rational explanations for unexplained phenomena (rather than interpreting them as divine ...)," that would only be true, in the case of the Shroud, if Naturalism, the philosophy that nature is all there is, there is no supernatural, including God, were true. But the Shroud is scientific evidence that Jesus was raised supernaturally from death by the power of God (1Cor 6:14; Col 2:12) (see 03Aug24), and therefore that Naturalism is not true!]

[...]

Was Jesus’ crucified body wrapped in the Shroud of Turin? A newly discovered Medieval document is the earliest written evidence to suggest not.[Again, see above that it was not a "document" but a mere footnote. And in that footnote, Oresme, who had never seen the Shroud (see above) does not dispute that the Shroud exhibited at "the church in Champagne" was "the Shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ." (see above).]

World-leading Shroud of Turin expert says findings are "further historical evidence that even in the Middle Ages, they knew that the Shroud was not authentic" [This "World-leading Shroud of Turin expert" is revealed (see future below) as Professor Andrea Nicolotti (1974-). But Nicolotti is an embodiment of "The invincible ignorance fallacy":

"The invincible ignorance fallacy, also known as argument by pigheadedness, is a deductive fallacy of circularity where the person in question simply refuses to believe the argument, ignoring any evidence given. It is not so much a fallacious tactic in argument as it is a refusal to argue in the proper sense of the word. The method used in this fallacy is either to make assertions with no consideration of objections or to simply dismiss objections by calling them excuses, conjecture, anecdotal, etc. or saying that they are proof of nothing, all without actually demonstrating how the objections fit these terms"[IIW].]
Two Shroudie reviews of Nicolotti's book (which I own), "The Shroud of Turin - The History and Legends of the World’s Most Famous Relic" (2019), by Emanuela Marinelli and Ian Wilson support this:
"Anyone who has already read other books by Nicolotti knows, however, his destructive attitude: his interpretation of the sources is always contrary to the authenticity of the Shroud and the denial of any possibility that the relic is the funeral sheet of Christ is continually repeated. He is anxious to turn off any light, so that the darkness could be total. Nicolotti operates a systematic exaltation of the scholars who believe the Shroud to be false, people he presents as reliable, and an equally systematic denigration of those who consider it authentic, branded as sindonologists who make pseudoscience"[ME22].
"Superficially, Nicolotti’s book presents as an authoritative, well-researched account of everything that is worth knowing about the Turin cloth’s history ... despite which high standing and convenient location he appears never to have examined the cloth itself at close quarters ... reasonably high-resolution digital photographs have been available since 2008, yet Nicolotti turns a surprisingly blind eye to the imagery that has so astonished many, providing scant description of it, and seeing no problem to it being accepted as the work of a medieval artist. The book’s ... illustrations lack any close-up views of its imagery’s characteristics, and there is no in-depth textual discussion of these ... denying their medical convincingness (in the teeth of some serious professional opinion to the contrary), and downplaying their famous `negative' properties"[WI22]
As for this footnote being "further historical evidence that even in the Middle Ages, they knew that the Shroud was not authentic" is obviously false. The Shroud first appeared in undisputed history late in the Middle Ages (AD 500-1500) at a brief exposition at Lirey, France in 1355[13Apr18]. It was displayed on a high platform and the public below could not touch the Shroud, let alone examine it[24Nov15]. Soon afterwards the Shroud disappeared until a second brief exposition at Lirey in 1389[03Jul18]. At no time in the Middle Ages could anyone know that the Shroud was "not authentic." Oresme couldn't know it because he never saw the Shroud[see above]! It was not until 1978 when STURP examined the Shroud for five days around the clock with a battery of scientific tests[20Jun22] , that it could be known that the Shroud was not a painting[08Dec22] and therefore it could reasonably be inferred that the Shroud was authentic, that is, Jesus' burial sheet[HG87, 28; SH90, 12; IJ98, 118; DT12, 26]. Today, The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet! And the 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud has been proved beyond reasonable doubt to have been the result of a computer hacking[08Jul15; 14Jun25]!

Newly uncovered medieval evidence is the latest to cast doubt on the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, the linen cloth many believe was used to wrap the crucified body of Jesus. [See above here and here]. Sarzeaud is deceiving himself. To cast doubt on the authenticity of the Shroud, he would need to 1) plausibly explain all the Shroud's major features, including: • photographic negativity (see above)[22Dec16]; • three-dimensionallity[05Feb17]; • extreme superficiality[11Nov16]; • non-directionality[29Oct16]; • no outline[11Jun16]; • no style[05Sep16]; • x-rays of hand bones and teeth (x-rays discovered

[Above (enlarge): of a positive photograph of the Shroud on Shroud Scope, showing the finger (phalanges) and the hand (metacarpals) bones beneath the skin[20Apr17]. X-rays are invisible, but when they are absorbed by calcium in bones, the calcium fluoresces[CG82, 433; BM95, 42; RC99, 150-151]. Dead bodies don't emit x-rays but the Transfiguration (Mt 17:1-2; Mk 9:2-3; Lk 9:28-31) records that Jesus' body emitted intense light[23Jun15; 05Sep16; 05Feb17], which includes x-rays as part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum[EMW], as a preview of Jesus' resurrection[05Sep16; 05Feb17; RTB]! So this x-ray photograph of the Shroudman's hands is alone (and it is not alone) proof beyond reasonable doubt that the man on the Shroud is Jesus, photographed (written by light) at the instant of his resurrection[RTB]! So, to paraphrase Hebrews 2:3, how shall sceptics escape if they ignore such great evidence?]

1895)[20Apr17]; • real human blood[03Jun17]; • blood clots intact[04Sep17]; blood was on cloth before the image[05Nov17; 03Aug24]; • blood clot serum retraction halos[27Dec21](visible in ultraviolet light - discovered 1801)]; • distinction between arterial and venous blood flows (discovered 1628)[27Dec21]. And 2) plausibly explain away: • the historical[04Jul25], and • artistic[04Jul25] evidence that the Shroud existed seven centuries before the earliest 1260 radiocarbon date of the Shroud[21Aug18; 04Oct18; 21Mar23; 11Jun23; 10Feb25].]

Following analysis, this recently discovered, previously unknown ancient document has become one of the oldest dismissals of the famous 14-foot cloth – and the oldest written evidence known to-date. [Again, see above, it is only a footnote, not a "document." And in that footnote, there is no "dismissal" of the Shroud by Oresme (see above). And even if there was, it would be worthless because Oresme never saw the Shroud (see above). Sceptics must be desperate for good news from their perspective, that they needed to resort to this fact-free beat up!]

Findings, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medieval History, show a highly-respected [Sarzeaud's second "highly-respected." See above on his rhetoric.] Norman theologian Nicole Oresme had rejected the Shroud, with this future bishop claiming it as a "clear" and "patent" fake – the result of deceptions by ‘clergy men’.[This is a LIE by Sarzeaud. Oresme never said those words! Neither did Oresme "reject ... the Shroud" (see above). And even if he had, it would have been worthless, because Oresme never saw the Shroud (see above). Neither were there "deceptions by ‘clergy men’" in exhibiting the Shroud at Lirey (see above). And as for "this future bishop," according to Sarzeaud's own journal article, Oresme was a bishop in name only, being more involved in Paris politics than attending his cathedral" (205 km = 127 miles away):

"Oresme actively participated in Parisian political life, particularly during the tumultuous 1350s, as an ally of the royal faction. Charles V exempted him from residence requirements at Rouen Cathedral, where complaints arose about his lack of attendance"[SN25].]
Bearing a faint imprint image of the front and back of a naked man, consistent with traditional accounts of Jesus of Nazareth after his death by crucifixion, the Shroud’s genuineness is still being questioned to this day [Following its 1988 radiocarbon date of 1260-1390, the Shroud sunk to an all-time low in public opinion. Sceptic Lynne Picknett (1947-) recorded the "post-carbon-dating ... ridicule" of shroudies:
“The post-carbon-dating world of the Shroudies was very different from the one that preceded the devastating announcement of October 13, 1988. For the Shroudies, the worst thing about the carbon dating was the ridicule. Cartoons began to appear, and jokes about it crept into television programs, such as the irreverent satirical show Spitting Image. A full-length transparency of the Shroud would later figure in the British Museum's exhibition Fake: The Art of Deception. When Ian Wilson gave a talk to the Wrekin Trust on November 5, 1988, and was introduced as `being best known for his book The Turin Shroud, the large audience of respectable, intelligent people laughed. He may have smiled back, but one does not have to try too hard to understand his feelings[PP06, 11]
– with many supporters of its authenticity maintaining their belief. [But since then as further evidence was discovered which supported that the Shroud is indeed Jesus' burial sheeet and problems of the Shroud's 1260-1390 radiocarbon date came to light, the Shroud has been steadily rising in public opinion. Articles like this show how desperate sceptics are, resorting to hype, lies, half-truths and suppressing evidence.]

This is despite ever-growing new research. For example, one paper this summer, published in the journal Archaeometry concluded – using 3D analysis – that the material had been wrapped around a sculpture, rather than Jesus’ body. [This is the article: Moraes, C., 2025, "Image Formation on the Holy Shroud—A Digital 3D Approach," Archaeometry 8 July. I have been emailed a PDF of the article. It is an exercise in self-deception. The claim is: 1) create a computer simulation of the frontal side of the Shroud (ignoring the back side); 2) it therefore looks resembles the Shroud's frontal side (surprise, surprise!) (see below); 3) therefore the Shroud was created by draping ~4.4 x ~1.1

[Above (enlarge): Extract from Fig. 6 of Moraes' article showing the frontal image of the Shroud (left) and overlay of the low-relief model (right)[MC25,8].]

metre linen cloth over a "low relief" (i.e. a bas relief[03Mar12]) of unspecified material, and either rubbing pigment on the cloth[01Nov08; 03Mar12; 09May15] (cold); or scorching it[RTB] (hot). The article has been answered by Shroudie Alessandro Piana in Piana, A., 2025, “Was the Shroud Laid on a Sculpture? A Study Full of Errors," UCCR, 3 August. Piana's first paragraph says, "The Shroud was allegedly not laid over a body but over a bas-relief sculpture. This is the `new' theory proposed by Brazilian designer Cicero Moraes, but it is riddled with errors that undermine its methodological validity."

Problems of the Shroud having been created by overlaying its cloth over a bas relief include: Bishop d'Arcis would be wrong that the Shroud had been "cunningly painted" by an artist who confessed it to his predecessor, Bishop Henri de Poitiers[09May15; 03Jul18]. • As leading Shroud sceptic Walter McCrone (1916-2020) pointed out, a medieval forger would have simply painted the Shroud[07Jul23]. • Art based on bas reliefs did not exist in the 14th century[01Nov08; 03Mar12]. • A bas relief is one-sided, whereas the Shroud image is two-sided: front and back[03Mar12]. So a medieval forger transferring a bas relief image to the Shroud cloth would need to have created two bas reliefs: one for the man's front and one for his back! • Such bas reliefs, engraved with anatomical details unknown in the fourteenth century[01Nov08], would be great works of art in their own right[01Nov08; 03Mar12]. So where are they; or where is the record of their having existed[03Mar12]? STURP found that there is no paint, pigments or dye which constitutes the Shroud's image[01Nov08], so that rules out a cold transfer of the bas relief image to the Shroud cloth using pigments, etc, as they would inevitably be trapped in the Shroud's weave[03Mar12]. • STURP also found that bas-relief shrouds do not reproduce the Shroud's three-dimensional, superficial and non-directional properties[01Nov08; 05Feb17]. • If the Shroud image was created using heated bas reliefs to scorch the man's image onto the Shroud's linen, he would need to have manipulated a ~4.4 x ~1.1 metre (~14.4 x ~3.6 feet) linen cloth over two bas reliefs, heated at just the right temperature to not burn the cloth[03Mar12], when the only heat source was burning wood, charcoal, coal or oil, because electric heating was not invented until the 19th century[03Mar12]. • The blood was on the Shroud's linen before the image[see above], which also rules out heated bas reliefs which would cook the blood[03Mar12]. • If the Shroud was printed on linen laid over two bas relief, then the forger could run off many Shrouds, so why did he stop at one Shroud[01Nov08; 03Mar12]? • How did the forger obtain a ~4.4 x ~1.1 metre rare and expensive herringbone twill linen cloth, which the Shroud is[10Jul15; 08Apr20]? Which `just happens' to be close to 8 x 2 Assyrian cubits of 21.6 inches[10Jul15; 08Apr20]!

Previous radiocarbon dating of the Shroud has also determined the linen was produced at the end of the 13th or 14th century. [No it didn't. See 14May25 & 14Jun25 for proof beyond reasonable doubt that my Linick-Koch Hacker Theory is true. and therefore the 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud is the result of a computer hacking[18Feb14; 24May14; 23Jul15 & 28Jan25]!]

"This now-controversial relic has been caught up in a polemic between supporters and detractors of its cult for centuries," explains Dr Nicolas Sarzeaud, the lead author of this new study, out today. [The only "cult" in this context is that of Naturalism, i.e. nature is all that there is: there is no supernatural, including that the Shroud image was not the result of Jesus' resurrection! Like cultists, philosophical naturalists such as Sarzeaud, cannot conceive that the image on the Shroud is the result of a supernatural miracle by God - a "snapshot" of Jesus' resurrection:

"Even from the limited available information, a hypothetical glimpse of the power operating at the moment of creation of the Shroud's image may be ventured. In the darkness of the Jerusalem tomb the dead body of Jesus lay, unwashed, covered in blood, on a stone slab. Suddenly, there is a burst of mysterious power from it. In that instant ... the body becomes indelibly fused onto the cloth, preserving for posterity a literal `snapshot' of the Resurrection"[22Dec11; 05Sep16; 06Jan12; 07Feb12, etc].
and therefore a false naturalistic explanation of the Shroud's image is preferred by them to a true supernatural explanation!]

Dr Sarzeaud is a researcher in history at the Université Catholique of Louvain, in Belgium, and a fellow of the Villa Médicis, the French Academy, in Rome, Italy. His focus is on the history of relics and images – and more specifically on the question of traces in the West in the late Middle Ages. [All from a naturalistic perspective! While the vast majority of Roman Catholic relics are presumably fakes, at least two of them: the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo. are true relics, being Jesus' burial shroud (Mt 27:59; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53) and the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head (Jn 20:7), respectively.]

His new paper is important, he explains, as it shows that a statement – found by renowned historians Alain Boureau and Béatrice Delaurenti [Not just "historians but "renowned historians"! See above that I am keeping track of Sarzeaud's rhetorical boosting of those who agree with him, to enhance his weak case.]– within a treatise by Oresme is now the first-ever written [No. It's the first that has survived. And this is the "Argument from age" fallacy: that because something is the oldest it must be true. And Oresme's 1370 footnote is not even the oldest mention of the Shroud. In 1207 Nicholas Mesarites (c. 1163/4–aft. 1216), before the 1204 Sack of Constantinople, was the custodian of the Byzantine Empire's relic collection in the Pharos Chapel. In 1207 Mesarites wrote of his repelling a mob intent on storming the Pharos Chapel in 1201, by warning them:

"In this chapel Christ rises again, and the sindon with the burial linens is the clear proof ... The burial sindon of Christ: this is of linen, of cheap and easily obtainable material, still smelling fragrant of myrrh, defying decay, because it wrapped the mysterious [aperilepton], naked dead body after the Passion"[29Mar14; RTB].
The Greek word aperilepton means "un-outlined," which is a unique descriptor of the image on the Shroud, which has no outline[29Mar14; RTB]. Moreover, Mesarites stated that Christ's body was naked, but not until the fourteenth century, and then only rarely, was Christ's body depicted as naked[29Mar14; RTB]. These three unique descriptors of the image on the Shroud: sindon (shroud), aperilepton ("unoutlined"), and "naked," can only refer to the Shroud and therefore are proof beyond reasonable doubt that the Shroud existed in Constantinople in 1201[29Mar14; RTB], ~59 years before the earliest 1260 radiocarbon date of the Shroud, ~154 years before the first undisputed exposition of the Shroud at Lirey, France, in c. 1355, and ~169 years before Oresme's 1370 footnote!]

To be continued in the eighteenth instalment of this post.

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
BM95. Borkan, M., 1995, "Ecce Homo?: Science and the Authenticity of the Turin Shroud," Vertices, Duke University, Vol. X, No. 2, Winter, 18-51.
CG82. Carter, G.F., 1982, "Formation of the Image on the Shroud of Turin by x-Rays: A New Hypothesis," in Lambert, J.B., ed., 1984, "Archaeological Chemistry III: ACS Advances in Chemistry, No. 205," American Chemical Society, Washington D.C., 425-446.
DT12. de Wesselow, T., 2012, "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection," Viking: London.
EMW. "Electromagnetic spectrum," Wikipedia, 8 October 2025.
Electromagnetic spectrum," Wikipedia, 15 August 2025.
HG87. Habermas, G.R., 1987, "Affirmative Statement: Gary R. Habermas," in Habermas, G.R., Flew, A.G.N. & Miethe, T.L., ed., "Did Jesus Rise From The Dead?: The Resurrection Debate," Harper & Row: San Francisco CA.
IIW. "Invincible ignorance fallacy," Wikipedia, 5 May 2024.
IJ98. Iannone, J.C., 1998, "The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin: New Scientific Evidence," St Pauls: Staten Island NY.
ME22. Marinelli, E., 2022, "The Desire for Total Darkness: Review of Andrea Nicolotti’s The Shroud of Turin - The History and Legends of the World’s Most Famous Relic," Shroud.com.
ONW. "Nicole Oresme," Wikipedia, 8 October 2025.
MC25. Moraes, C., 2025, "Image Formation on the Holy Shroud-A Digital 3D Approach," Archaeometry, 18 July, 1-10.

PA25. Piana, A., 2025, "Shroud, A Rumor in a Medieval Document Peddled as Proof," UCCR, 29 Aug 2025.
PP06. Picknett, L. & Prince, C., 2006, "The Turin Shroud: How da Vinci Fooled History," [1994], Touchstone: New York NY, Second edition, Reprinted, 2007.
RC99. Ruffin, C.B., 1999, "The Shroud of Turin: The Most Up-To-Date Analysis of All the Facts Regarding the Church's Controversial Relic," Our Sunday Visitor: Huntington IN.
RTB. Reference(s) to be provided.
SH90. Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., 1990, "The Shroud and the Controversy," Thomas Nelson: Nashville TN.
SN25. Sarzeaud, N., 2025, "A New Document on the Appearance of the Shroud of Turin from Nicole Oresme: Fighting False Relics and False Rumours in the Fourteenth Century," Journal of Medieval History, 28 August.
STW. "Shroud of Turin," Wikipedia, 8 October 2025.
WI78. Wilson, I., 1978, "The Turin Shroud," Book Club Associates: London.
WI79. Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition.
WI22. Wilson, I., 2022, "Is the Shroud of Turin a Fake?: Ian Wilson’s Critique of Andrea Nicolotti’s Study," The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 108, No. 2, Spring, 391-404.

Posted 10 October 2025. Updated 26 October 2025.

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (3): Turin Shroud Encyclopedia

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (3)

This is my "Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (3)," part #44 of my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia. For more information about this series see "Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (1)."

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

[Index #1] [Previous: Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (2) #43] [Next: "Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (4)" #45].

First, I have updated "Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (1)" with "Evidence that the Shroud is older than 1260," "Historical evidence that the Shroud is older than 1260," and "Artistic evidence that the Shroud is older than 1260."

1260-1390! On 13 October 1988, the coordinator of the laboratories' radiocarbon dating, the British Museum's Michael Tite (1938-), flanked by Oxford radiocarbon dating laboratory's Prof. Edward Hall (1924-2001) and its chief technician Robert Hedges (1944-), at a press conference in the British Museum, London, announced that the Shroud's radiocarbon date was 1260-1390[24May14]. On a blackboard behind them Tite had written "1260-1390!"[21Jun20; 25Aug24].

[Right (enlarge): From left to right, Prof. Edward Hall (Oxford), Michael Tite (British Museum) and Robert Hedges (Oxford) announcing on 13 October 1988 that the Shroud had been radiocarbon dated "1260-1390!"[24May14].]

Exclamation mark In 1990, ~2 years after the press conference, when asked who wrote the exclamation mark on the blackboard, Tite answered "I can't remember who did that"[21Jun20]. Yet in 2020, ~12 years after the press conference, Tite admitted that it was he who did it[21Jun20]. This shows that Tite is not a scrupulous truth-teller but can tell lies about the Shroud when when it suits him[28Jan25]. Previously we saw that Tite was an extreme Shroud sceptic[31Jul25, who along with McCrone and Linick, would not accept that the Shroud was Jesus' even if its radiocarbon date was first-century[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 15Aug17]. The Vatican was naive, in entrusting the dating of the Shroud to this group of non-Christians, with no Christian oversight. It should have insisted that, as the Shroud was the Church's artifact, the laboratories were required to send the result to it for consideration before it was announced publicly[07May16].

■ "one in a thousand trillion" Prof. Harry Gove asked and answered:

"The other question that has been asked is: if the statistical probability that the shroud dates between 1260 and 1390 is 95%, what is the probability that it could date to the first century? The answer is about one in a thousand trillion, i.e. vanishingly small"[20Feb14; 24May14; 23Jul15; 09Mar17; 28Feb25].
Tite added that the odds were "astronomical" that the Shroud could be first-century and have a 1260-1390 radiocarbon date[24May14; 23Jul15; 28Feb25] and Hall wrote that it was "totally impossible"[24May14; 23Jul15; 28Feb25].

But the flip-side is that since the Shroud is first-century, as the evidence overwhelmingly indicates, it is the 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud which the probability against is "one in a thousand trillion," "astronomical" and "totally impossible"[23Jul15; 11Jun16; 20Dec14; 09Jan21]!

1989 Nature article On 16 February 1989, an article, "Radiocarbon Dating the Shroud of Turin," was published in the British science journal Nature[17Feb19; 21Mar23]. It claimed that, "The results provide conclusive evidence that the linen of the Shroud of Turin is mediaeval ... AD 1260-1390, with at least 95% confidence"[17Feb19; 29May19; 06Nov20]. Those dates are a statistically manipulated combined average of the dates of each laboratory[17Feb19; 29May19; 13Mar21; 22Jan25; 28Jan25]. The "1390" and "95%" are fraudulent (see here and here).

Not peer-reviewed? Tite, the author of the Nature article, did not mention that it had been peer-reviewed, in his rush to have it published[28Jan25]:

"T: I wrote the article. I was the person who put it together and circulated it to the labs and they added their bit. In our lab we did the statistical analysis"[MP89, 10]
although he implied that it was[MP89, 10]. However, Casabianca, et al., mention, "As suggested one of the referees ..."[CT19]. But such is the shambles of the three laboratories' radiocarbon dating revealed in their raw data that Casabianca, et al. exposed[29May19], the question then is: did Tite take any notice of the peer-reviewers comments? There were only 66 days between the last laboratory, Oxford, submitting its results to Tite on Monday 8 August 1988[08Dec22], and the press conference announcing the 1260-1390 results of the dating on Thursday, 13 October 1988[08Dec22]. And as we saw above, Tite did not even mention peer review in his explanation of why he chose Nature rather than a specialist radiocarbon dating journal to publish the article (see below). Tite would have had to submit the three laboratories' results, as well as the British Museum's statistical analysis, to a panel of peer-reviewers. They would have needed many weeks, if not months, to review the results and return their comments and questions to Tite. Tite would then need to send the reviewers' comments and questions to the three laboratories and receive back from them their answers. Only then could Tite write the article. That Tite does not even mention such a large amount of time that peer-review of the laboratories' results and the British Museum's statistical analysis would take, indicates that, if it happened, Tite ignored it. That the article contains an elementary rounding error to the nearest 10 years from 1384 to 1390[22Jan25; 28Jan25], when it should have been 1380[28Jan25; 22Jan25], which peer-reviewers would surely have required to be corrected, indicates that Tite ignored what peer-review of the article there was.

Hall's retirement The article was not submitted to a specialist, peer-reviewed radiocarbon dating journal, such as Radiocarbon or Archaeometry, because, according to Tite, "Nature is published more rapidly, comes out once a week and is accepted for immediate results"[MP89, 9]. But that is not a valid scientific reason. The need for rapid publication was that Oxford Radiocarbon Dating laboratory was founded and largely funded privately by the wealthy Prof. Edward Hall[27Aug15; WI01; 28Jan25], but under Oxford University's then mandatory retirement at age 65 policy, Hall had to retire on 10 May 1989[28Jan25]. Hall had 45 "rich friends" who would fund an endowed chair of archeological science at Oxford (the Edward Hall Chair of Archaeological Science)[17Feb19; 21Jun20; 21Mar23], if the radiocarbon dating of the Shroud was a `success'[22Jan25]. And Tite was the first occupant of that chair[17Feb19; 22Jan25; 28Jan25]! Hall, being a Trustee of the Bristish Museum, was effectively Tite's boss[17Feb19], and it would be naive not to think that Hall, with £1M funding of his Oxford laboratory depending on a medieval radiocarbon date of the Shroud, did not say to Tite, words to the effect,`get it right Michael and the job (Director of Oxford Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory and the Chair of Archaeological Science) is yours'[21Mar23]!

Evidence that the article's radiocarbon dates are computer-generated include:

Fig. 1 shows no overlap between Arizona and Oxford's dates of

[Left: Fig. 1 Mean radiocarbon dates with ±1 standard deviation errors bars, of Sample 1 (the Shroud) and the three control samples[28Jan25].]

Sample 1 (the Shroud), and almost no overlap of Oxford and Zurich's dates. Arizona's oldest date is 1249 and Oxford's youngest date is 1220. And Zurich and Oxford only overlap by 3 years: Zurich's oldest date is 1217 and again Oxford's youngest date is 1220[28Jan25]. Yet there was overlap between the control samples 2, 3 and 4, of all three laboratories[28Jan25], which were not computer-generated.

Table 1 lists the mean dates of each laboratory's dating runs of

[Right (enlarge): Extract of Table 1 of the Nature article[23Jun18; 28Jan25]. "Sample 1" is the Shroud with the dating runs of each laboratory[28Jan25]. Years are before 1950[13Jun14; 17Feb19; 28Jan25], after which atmosheric nuclear testing added man-made carbon-14 into the atmosphere[17Feb19; 22Jan25; 28Jan25]. So Arizona's first listed run was 591 ± 30, i.e. 1950-591 = 1359 ± 30. Oxford's first listed run was 795 ± 65, i.e. 1950-795 = 1155 ± 65. And Zurich's first listed run was 733 ± 61, i.e. 1950-733 = 1217 ± 61].

Sample 1 (the Shroud). But Arizona's 4 listed runs were actually 8 runs[12Feb08; 17Feb19; 29May19], which were combined and averaged, with no explanatory footnote, and falsely headed "individual measurements"[17Feb19; 29May19; 28Jan25]. Hence Arizona's first listed run appears as "1359" when it actually was "1350"[23Jun18; 08Dec22]. Converted to calendar years (before 1950), the mean date of Arizona's first listed run, 1359, was the most recent (youngest) of all three laboratories' 12 listed dating runs[23Jun18; 03Aug19; 13Mar21; 21Mar23; 22Jan25; 28Jan25]. The mean date of Oxford's first listed run, 1155, was the least recent (oldest) of all three laboratories' listed dating runs[22Jan25; 28Jan25]. And the mean listed date of Zurich's first listed run, 1217, was the least recent (oldest) of Zurich's 5 dating runs[22Jan25; 28Jan25].

I had thought that the probability of this pattern occurring by chance would be 1/4 x 1/3 × 1/5 = 1/60[22Jan25; 28Jan25]. But then I realised that within each laboratory its dates could be in any order. I rediscovered what I once knew as a maths and science teacher almost a decade ago, that the number of permutations of n distinct objects is n factorial, usually written as n!. Therefore the number of permutations of Arizona's four dates is factorial 4, i.e. 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24; that of Oxford's 3 dates is factorial 3, i.e. 3 x 2 x 1 = 6; and the permutations of Zurich's 5 dates is factorial 5, i.e. 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 120. So the probability of this pattern occurring by chance across the three laboratories was not 1/4 x 1/3 × 1/5 = 1/60, but 1/24 x 1/6 x 1/120 = 1/17,280! When I thought the probabilty of this pattern occurring by chance was 1/60, I tried to demonstrate it on a spreadsheet, but even then it became too difficult, and it would have be too wide or long to fit into a blog post.

A Shroud sceptic might argue that the probability of any permutation of those dates, occurring by chance, would be 1 in 17,280. This may be true (I am no mathematician), but presumably only a tiny minority of those would form a meaningful pattern. And among that tiny minority of those that did form a meaningful pattern, some (e.g. the pattern of all the dates in perfect chronological order from Arizona's first to Oxford's last, or its reverse), would likely have invalidated that dating, because of suspected fraud. That is because the dates would be expected to form no pattern, but be randomly distributed across all three laboratories. There is no scientific reason why these dates, from three different laboratories, in three different countries, and generated at three different times, would show any pattern.

In particular, there is no scientific reason why the very first dating run of all three laboratories, contained in Arizona's "1359," should be the `psychological hammer blow' "1350"[22Jan25; 04Jul25] which instantly convinced Gove and all others present at Arizona's first dating on 6 May 1988 that, after this one dating run in one laboratory, that "the year the flax had been harvested that formed its linen threads was 1350 AD ... It was certainly not Christ's burial cloth":

"At 9:50 am 6 May 1988, Arizona time, the first of the ten measurements appeared on the screen. We all waited breathlessly. The ratio was compared with the OX sample and the radiocarbon time scale calibration was applied by Doug Donahue. ... At the end of that one minute we knew the age of the Turin Shroud! The next nine numbers confirmed the first ... Based on these 10 one minute runs, ... the year the flax had been harvested that formed its linen threads was 1350 AD-the shroud was only 640 years old! It was certainly not Christ's burial cloth but dated from the time its historic record began[08Jun14; 22Sep15; 10Feb18; 03Aug19] ... I remember Donahue saying that he did not care what results the other two laboratories got, this was the shroud's age"[08Jun14; 22Sep15; 10Feb18; 03Aug19]
Gove even quoted with approval Donahue saying above that he "did not care what results the other two laboratories got, this was the shroud's age"! They all ignored Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88)'s First Principle, "you must not fool yourself-and you are the easiest person to fool (my emphasis)"
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself-and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that"[22Jul12; 27Aug15; 18Nov15]
And that "1350," date was then leaked by Arizona physicist Timothy Linick (1946-89)[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 08Dec22; 07Apr25] (the hacker whose program generated it[05Jul14; 29Mar16; 07Apr25]) to Shroud sceptic David Sox (1936-2016)[24Jun14; 05Mar15; 30Dec15; 15Aug17], through Linick's half-brother Anthony Linick (1938-), who worked with Sox for at least 11 years from 1982 to 1993, at the same American School in London[22Feb16; 15Aug17]. And Sox leaked that "1350" date to the media through his friend Richard Luckett (1945-2020)[24Jun14]. Linick leaked the "1350" date to create a climate of expectation[24Jun14; 22Sep15; 10Mar17; 15Aug17; 03Aug19; 21Mar23], such that, as Oxford's Prof. Hall recalled: "Everyone was resigned to it being a fake long before the announcement" (my emphasis).
"So it was `leaked' by the press ... in the States long before the newspaper stories started here [sic] ... Everyone was resigned to it being a fake long before the announcement. In this sense it was out of the bag from the very beginning"[21Mar23; 31Jul25].
The final element of this unique, meaningful, probability 1 in 17,280, pattern of Shroud dating runs in Table 1 of the 1989 Nature article, is that when the dates of Sample 1, the Shroud, were combined and averaged, with the fraudulent help of Tite[22Jan25; 28Jan25; 04Jul25], it produced a radiocarbon date of the Shroud of 1260-1390, the mid-point of which is 1325, which `just happens' to be exactly 30 years before the Shroud first appeared in undisputed history at Lirey, France, in 1355[18Feb14; 24May14; 21Jun17]!

The range of the dates [see 28Jan25], in years before 1950 (see above) from the oldest 1155 (Oxford), to the youngest 1359 (Arizona), is 204 years[23Jun18; 28Jan25]! Within each laboratory the range was also wide. Arizona's maximum mean was 701 and its minimum 591, a range of 110 years! Oxford's mean maximum was 795 and its minimum 730, a range of 65 years. Zurich's maximum was 733 and its minimum 635, a range of 98 years! Yet the laboratories' Shroud samples were cut from the one Shroud sample ~10 mm x 70 mm (or ~0.4 x 2.75 in.), according to the Nature article[DP89, 612]. However, according to Wilson the

[Above (enlarge): Drawing of the approximately 1.2 cm x 8 cm sample area, from A1 (Arizona 1), O (Oxford), Z (Zurich) to A (Arizona), with a photo of the 1.2 cm x 8 cm Shroud sample superimposed on the bottom right hand side[13Jun14]. The actual samples that were dated (A1 was not [13Jun14]) are outlined in red. That shrinks the length of the samples dated from 8cm to 4.5 cm. (as measured by me.) Clearly there can be no significant difference in radiocarbon dates between samples from such a tiny area. That is, if they were real dates and not computer-generated!]

sample's dimensions are 1.2 x 8 cm[13Jun14] i.e 120 x 80 mm. I assume this is correct because it is ~9 years later.

Table 2 shows that the Shroud sample had an "X2 value (2 d.f.)" of "6.4"[17Feb19; 29May19; 28Jan25]. This is the Chi-squared test2)

[Above: Extract from Table 2 of the 1989 Nature article. As can be seen, the Chi-squared value of sample 1 (the Shroud) contrasts markedly with those of the linen control samples 2 (0.1), 3 (1.3) and 4 (2.4)[17Feb19; 29May19; 28Jan25]. The whole point of having control samples of known date[DP89, 612] is that if the test date result varies significantly from that of the control dates, then the something must have gone wrong with the experiment and the test result must be rejected. But there is no reason why the Shroud sample date should have varied so significantly from the control dates, if the Shroud sample dates were real and not computer-generated[29May19]!

of homogeneneity, where the upper limit of 2 degrees of freedom at a 95% significance level is 5.99[17Feb19; 29May19; 28Jan25]. This renders the "with at least 95% confidence" both false[29May19; 28Jan25] and fraudulent (because Tite and the British Museum's statistician Morven Leese) must have known it was false)[17Feb19].

Under Table 2, the article admitted:

"An initial inspection of Table 2 shows that the agreement among the three laboratories for samples 2, 3 and 4 [controls] is exceptionally good. The spread of the measurements for sample 1 [the Shroud] is somewhat greater than would be expected from the errors quoted"[13Jun14; 18Nov15; 26May18; 17Feb19; 28Jan25]!
But this is impossible if the Shroud dates were real and not computer-generated by a hacker's program[13Jun14; 18Nov15; 17Feb19; 28Jan25]: 
• The three laboratories' `postage stamp' size Shroud samples were all sub-divided from the same ~1.2 x 8 cm (~0.47 x 3.15 in.) sample cut from the Shroud[13Jun14; 18Nov15; 17Feb19].
• All were dated by the same AMS method[13Jun14].
• The Shroud and the control samples were, at each laboratory, together on a carousel which was a little larger than a British two pence coin, which is about 26 mm (~1 inch) in diameter[13Jun14; 03Jun15; 18Nov15].
• In each 10-minute dating run the Shroud and control samples were together rotated through the one caesium ion beam for one minute, 10 times[13Jun14; 03Jun15; 18Nov15].
• If there was something technically wrong with the dating process at a laboratory, the controls and Shroud samples at that laboratory would wrongly agree, and disagree with the controls and Shroud samples of the other two laboratories[03Jun15; 18Nov15; 17Feb19]. But that the agreement across the three laboratories in the dates of the control samples was "exceptionally good" shows that there was nothing technically wrong with the dating itself, which means that the Shroud samples' dates were not real but computer-generated[RTB]

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.

Bibliography
CT19. Casabianca, T., et al., 2019, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Turin Shroud: New Evidence from Raw Data," Archaeometry, 22 March, 1-9.
DP89. Damon, P.E., et al., 1989, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," Nature, Vol. 337, 16 February, 611-615.
MP89. Marinelli, E. & Petrosillo, O., 1989, "The 1988 Shroud Samples: An interview with Dr Michael Tite," Paris Symposium 1989, Shroud News, No 81, February 1994, 10.
RTB. Reference(s) to be provided.
WI01. Wilson, I., 2001, "Obituary: Professor Edward Hall, CBE, FBA," BSTS Newsletter, No. 54, November.

Posted 7 September 2025. Updated 15 October 2025.