[Previous: Shroud of Turin News, January - March 2026 (1)] [Next: To be advised]
This is the sixteenth instalment of my Shroud of Turin News from March 2026 (2) to June - 2026. I had split March into (1) and (2) because from 30 March, after 04Jan26, there were more news items about the DNA on the Shroud.
The articles will be in date order. My comments will be within [bold square brackets] to distinguish them from the articles' words.
"The Shroud of Turin bears DNA from many people, plants and animals," New Scientist, 30 March 2026, James Woodford. [The article is in the "4 April 2026" issue.] Researchers have identified genetic material from a vast range of organisms contaminating the shroud, said to have wrapped Jesus's body, further complicating the question of the cloth's true origin. [As mentioned in 30Aug26, this is not consistent with Shroud scepticism's "Standard Model," which is that the Shroud's flax was harvested, retted, spun into linen thread, the thread was then woven on a loom into a linen cloth, all within France, and then the image was imprinted on the cloth by an unknown forger who lived in the time of Bishop Henri de Poitiers (r. 1354–1370).]
[Above enlarge: "The Shroud of Turin bears an image of a man said to resemble Jesus Christ." This photograph of the Shroud is in the article. It obviously is a photograph of Jesus in his tomb, not a work of human art!]
DNA analysis has identified a vast array of animal, plant and human material contaminating the Shroud of Turin, complicating the story of the mysterious relic purported to be the cloth that Jesus Christ was wrapped in after his crucifixion 2000 years ago. [The rest of the article is unavailable, but I have taken steps to obtain a PDF of it. In the meantime the articles below should be sufficient.]
"New DNA Analysis Suggests That Shroud Of Turin May Have Indian Origins," NDTV, 31 March 2026, Srishti Singh Sisodia. The Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ [The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!], has been a subject of fascination and debate for centuries. [This in itself is evidence that the Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet. because a medieval forgery would have long since been discovered to be a fake.]. Recent DNA analysis suggests that the shroud ... may have Indian origins, New Scientist reported. [ "India" is mentioned in the Bible in Est 1:1 & 8:9. My commentary on Esther clarifies that: "By India is meant the area drained by the Indus River, now Pakistan, not peninsular India"[BJ84, 56].] Researchers from the University of Padova, Italy, analysed material collected from the shroud in 1978 and found that nearly 40% of the human DNA on the cloth is from Indian lineages. [This is impossible if the Shroud originated in France, as scepticism's "standard model" implies (see above)] This has led to speculation that the yarn used to weave the shroud may have originated from the Indus Valley region in ancient India [What other explanation could there be? In its known history from ~1355, and even in its prehistory from AD 30, when Jesus was buried in it, the Shroud has neber been anywhere near India or Indians! Only the growing, harvesting, retting and weaving of the Shroud cloth in India could account for nearly 40% of the human DNA on the Shroud cloth being from Indian lineages! Significantly the Greek word sindon which is translated "shroud" in the Gospels (Mt 27:59; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53), is derived from the ancient Indian Sanskrit word sindhu, which refers to the Indus River region!] Gianni Barcaccia first proposed that the linen had links to India in 2015[18Oct15], when he studied it along with his colleagues. Now, he and his team led a similar analysis of the same material, and again found that the shroud has preserved a huge diversity of medieval and modern DNA.["medieval" or "Middle Ages" is "from the 5th to late 15th centuries"[MGW]. How could Barcaccia, et al. tell the difference beween DNA from the 1st and 5th centuries?] "Our findings highlight its (the shroud's preservation conditions and environmental interactions, offering valuable perspectives into the identified genetic variants, which originated from multiple biological sources," wrote the team in the study. Along with traces of genetic material including domestic cats and dogs, farm animals and wild animals such as deer and rabbits, the researchers also found some fish species, like grey mullet, Atlantic cod and ray-finned fishes. [The key word is "traces." The fish DNA could have come from someone's dinner, who didn't wear gloves, and then handled the Shroud.] What are the possible explanations? The Romans may have imported linen or yarn from the Indus Valley region, which would have introduced Indian DNA to the shroud. [So could have the Jews in the first century. Agnostic art historian Thomas de wesselow (1971-), pointed out that the Shroud "could well represent the sort of linen produced in first-century Jerusalem for the Temple priests":
"Like their Hellenistic contemporaries, ancient Jews wore tunics and mantles and would have been in the market for relatively large linen cloths. Interestingly, Josephus tells us that, by tradition, the Jewish high priest wore a blue tunic made without any seam. This may relate to the coats `woven of fine linen' made for Aaron and his sons, the priestly line, in Exodus 39.27. The Shroud's herringbone weave is exceptionally fine, and, given the link with the Masada textiles, it could well represent the sort of linen produced in first-century Jerusalem for the Temple priests"[DT12, 110]].It is also possible that the shroud may have been handled by individuals of Indian origin over the centuries, resulting in the transfer of DNA. [It is not only "possible" - it is the only plausible explanation! But it could not have happened after the Shoud's first appearance in undisputable history at Lirey, France, in c.1355[13Apr18]. Because from then to the present the Shroud has a well-documented European history, with no Indian handling. See my Chronology of the Shroud, c.1355, onwards.] "The Shroud came into contact with multiple individuals, thereby challenging the possibility of identifying the original DNA of the Shroud," they added.[They analysed only a tiny sample of the Shroud. If the Vatican allowed a new set of tests of the Shroud, the investigators may be able to determine which blood belonged to the man of the Shroud and therefore which was his DNA. But the Vatican is unlikely to allow it. And I doubt that it would tell anything that we don't already know: that he was a Jewish man.] "The DNA traces found on the Shroud of Turin suggest the potentially extensive exposure of the cloth in the Mediterranean region and the possibility that the yarn was produced in India." [Which is no problem to the Shroud being Jesus burial sheet and therefore ~2000 years old. But it is major problem for the sceptics' position that the Shroud has only been in Europe and has only existed since 1260!] The Shroud of Turin has a complex history, with its first documented appearance in France in 1354 [This is self-contradictory. If the Shroud has only existed since "1354" then it would not have had "a complex history! ]. Since then, it has been housed in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, attracting millions of visitors and sparking intense debate about its authenticity. [If the Shroud had existed only since 1260 then there would be no "intense debate about its authenticity." But it is the evidence that the Shroud has existed long before "1260". See my 2018 "Open letter to Professor Christopher Ramsey" in which I presented the evidence that the Shroud had been in Edessa in 544"! [04Oct18]. And to which he has never replied!].
"Surprising DNA analysis reveals where Shroud of Turin may have actually originated," New York Post, 31 March 2026, Ben Cost. Analysis has revealed DNA belonging to plants, animals and even people of Indian descent on the Shroud of Turin, deepening the mystery surrounding the garb that allegedly swaddled the body of Christ post-crucifixion. [Not "swaddled." Wrapped. If the Shroud was a 14th forgery, there would be no "mystery" to be deepened. ] This genetic disrobing was detailed in a recent yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study in the journal BioRxiv ... “The DNA traces found on the Shroud of Turin suggest the potentially extensive exposure of the cloth in the Mediterranean region and the possibility that the yarn was produced in India,” the team wrote. However, Anders Götherström at Stockholm University in Sweden, who was not affiliated with the study, threw cold water on the notion that the shroud originated from India. “I still see no reason to doubt that the shroud is French and from the 13th to 14th century,” he says. [Thanks to Prof. Götherström for confirming Shroud scepticism's "Standard Model" (see above). That "the Shroud's flax was harvested, retted, spun into linen thread, the thread was then woven on a loom into a linen cloth, all within France, and then the image was imprinted on the cloth by an unknown forger who lived in the time of Bishop Henri de Poitiers (r. 1354–1370)." Prof. Götherström would know a lot about genetics but he evidenly knows little or nothing about Shroud history. Because if he had read the "Shroud Chronology" in Ian Wilson's 2012 book "The Shroud," from "1355" to "1578" (pages 392 to 302), when the Shroud was indisputably within France, he would see that there never was a time that Indians could have contaminated the Shroud with thir own DNA.]
New DNA research confirms Shroud of Turin's passage through the Middle East," Vatican News, 1 April 2026. The Holy Shroud of Turin passed through the Middle East, reveals new DNA research in the scientific article authored by Dr. Gianni Barcaccia, Professor of Genetics and Genomics at the University of Padua, along with other researchers. [The following is consistent with the above genomic evidence, as well as the Shroud's internal and historical evidence:
• Indus River valley The Shroud's flax (Linum usitatissimum)[22Jan15; 20Oct15; 04Mar20; 24May20] was grown, harvested, retted in water to separate the cellulose fibre from the rest of the flax plant[20Oct15; 05Jan16; 24May20]. The resulting hanks of yarn were then bleached by the sun[VG74, 8 & 11; MM05; 12Oct24], and then the yarn was hand-spun into linen thread[22Jan15; 04Mar20; 12Oct24].
• Syria: "a major, sophisticated cloth-making 'factory'". The linen thread from the Indus River Valley was purchased by "a major, sophisticated cloth-making 'factory'" in Syria[11Sep15; 24May20; 18Apr21; 12Nov25], probably Damascus. Damascus was a major weaving centre[DKW] and was on major trade routes[DMW]. The `factory' weaved the Indus
[Above (enlarge): "How the shroud was originally woven much wider than its present width. Reconstruction of the likely size of the bolt of cloth of which the two lengths of the Shroud (shaded) formed part. This wider cloth was very expertly cut lengthwise, then the raw (i.e. non-selvedge) edges of the shaded segments joined together by a very professional seam to form the Shroud we know today"[WI10, 73].
linen thread into an extra-wide, ~3.5 m wide, linen sheet[RTB], The sheet was cut lengthways into three pieces[RTB], one piece ~1.02 m wide with selvedge along its long edge[RTB], and another piece ~8 cms wide, also with selvedge along its opposite long edge[RTB], and a middle piece ~2.4 m wide, without selvedge[RTB]. The two pieces with selvedge were joined by stitching with a linen thread[RTB]. This ~4.4 m x ~1.1 m composite main piece and joined sidestrip sheet of fine linen, with selvedge along each long edge, would become the Shroud of Turin[RTB]!
• Jerusalem AD30 On 7 April AD30[24Jul16], after Jesus had died hanging on his cross (Mt 27:45-50; Mk 15:33-37; Lk 23:44-46; Jn 19:28:30), the Jewish religious leader asked Pilate to take down the bodies of Jesus and the two robbers crucified alongside him (Mt 27:38; Mk 15:27; Lk 23:32) because at sundown would begin both the sabbath and the Passover (Jn 19:31). So the three bodies were taken down from their crosses, and their nails extracted. Joseph of Arimathea (Mt 27:57), a secret disciple of Jesus (Mt 27:57) and a member of the Jewish ruling council (Mk 15:43), the Sanhedrin, asked the Roman centurion leader of the execution squad (Mt 27:54; Mk 15:44-45; Lk 23:47), to not throw Jesus' body into a common grave with the two crucified robbers[PM96, 227; GM98, 39], while he went to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor who had ordered Jesus' death by crucifixion (Mt 27:22-26; Mk 15:12-15; Lk 23:20-25; Jn 19:12-16), to claim Jesus' body[HW64, 436], and Pilate granted Joseph's request (Mt 27:57-58; Mk 15:43-45; Lk 23:50-52; Jn 19:38). Joseph then bought in a Jerusalem market (Mk 15:46. Gk agorazo) the 4.4 m x ~1.1 m sheet of fine linen, with selvedge along each long edge, which had been woven in the Syrian `factory' (above), from Indus River valley flax. Joseph, with the help of Nicodemus, also a secret disciple of Jesus (Jn 3:2) and a member of the Jewish ruling council (Jn 3:1; 7:50), laid Jesus body on the Shroud. All Jesus' acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee, who had previously stood at a distance watching Jesus' crucifixion (Lk 23:49), came forward to pay their last respects to him. They covered Jesus' face and chest with Spring wildflowers growing in the surrounding fields and bought at the nearby markets[RTB].]
To be continued in the seventeenth 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
BJ84. Baldwin, J.G., "Esther: An Introduction and Commentary," Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries," Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester UK, 1984, Reprinted, 1997, 56.
DMW. "Damascus," Wikipedia, 31 October 2026.
DKW. "Damask," Wikipedia, 27 April 2026.
DT12. de Wesselow, T., 2012, "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection," Viking: London.
GM98. Guscin, M., 1998, "The Oviedo Cloth," Lutterworth Press: Cambridge UK.
HW64. Hendriksen W., 1964, "A Commentary on the Gospel of John: Two Volumes Complete and Unabridged in One," [1959], Banner of Truth: London, Third Edition, Vol. II.
MGW. "Middle Ages," Wikipedia, 7 October 2026.
MM05. Minor, M. 2005, "The Third International Dallas Shroud Conference," BSTS Newsletter, No. 62, December.
PFJ. "Passion of Jesus," Wikipedia, 12 April 2026.
PM96. Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta.
RTB. Reference(s) to be provided.
VG74. Vial, G., 1974, "The Shroud of Turin: A Technical Study," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 38/39, March/June, 1991, 7-20. .
WI10. Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London.
Posted 14 October. Updated 4 November 2026.
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