NO OUTLINE #14
Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]This is part #14, "The man on the Shroud: No outline," of my series, "The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!" See the Main index for more information about this series.
[Main index #1] [Previous: Non-traditional #13] [Next: No paint, etc. #15]
- The man on the Shroud #8
- No outline #14
Introduction. The image of the man on the Shroud has no outline[2].
[Above (enlarge)[3]: Extract of front trunk and thighs area of the Shroud man's image (Shroud Scope: Durante 2002 Vertical). As can be seen there is no outline of the image. Readers can verify this for themselves by clicking on this (or any) image area of Shroud Scope and continually enlarging it by clicking on that part of the image, until maximum magnification is reached. They will find that as the image is enlarged it becomes more diffuse and no outline ever appears - because there isn't one!]
No outline. A unique feature of the Shroud man's image is a total lack of outline[4]. Painters outline a figure before painting it[5], but there is no outline on the Shroud[6]. All medieval artists used outlines[7] and it was not until the nineteenth century Impressionists that artists began to rely less on outlines to give shape to their works[8]. Yet even the Pointillists, the most extreme branch of Impressionism, used outlines to indicate where they should place their dots of colour[9]. The legs on the frontal image and the greater part of the dorsal image are indefinite and fade away in a blur, unlike any painting[10]. All paintings reveal indications of the artist's technique, such as brush strokes, sketched outlines, corrections and layers of colors, but even under magnification, no evidence of these can be detected[11]. All human paintings show outline and shading, and even if deceives the unaided eye, it becomes evident under the microscope[12]. But the image on the Shroud has no outline nor shading, even under a microscope[13]. Infrared thermographs of the Shroud taken by STURP in 1978 did not detect evidence of any underlying paint structures nor outline[14], as would be expected if the Shroud image were a painting[15].
Historical. In 1201 the Overseer of Constantinople's relic collection, Nicholas Mesarites (c. 1163-1216), delivered a speech in which he stated that among those relics were:
"`The funerary sheets [sindones] of Christ' which had `wrapped the un-outlined [Greek aperilepton], dead, naked ... body ... after the Passion'"[16].
That Mesarites was referring to the Shroud is evident from his calling it the
sindones in which Jesus' dead body had been "wrapped ... naked"[
17]. It is not known why Mesarites used the plural
sindones "shrouds"[
18], except that he also mentioned a towel (
cheiromaktron) in the relic collection which supposedly bore an image of Jesus "not wrought by hand"[
19]. So it seems that by "
sindones" Mesarites was including other claimed burial cloths of Jesus that were in Constantinople's relic collection. But the adjective
aperilepton [Greek
a "not" +
peri "around" +
lepton "thin"[
20] - compare
aperitmeton "uncircumcised"[
21] (
Acts 7:51)], means "un-outlined"[
22], "un-outlined"[
23] or "uncircumscribed"[
24]. This can
only be the Shroud man's image which
uniquely (at least before the 19th century) has no outline[
25]. So this is further proof beyond reasonable doubt that the Shroud was in Constantinople by
at least 1201, more than a
half-century before its earliest possible 1260 radiocarbon date[
26]!
Problems for the forgery theory. (see previous three: #11, #12 & #13). Impossible to paint the Shroud man's image on linen without an outline. Paul Vignon (1865-1943), a French Professor of Biology and an artist[27], tried to paint an image on linen as faint and devoid of outline, as the man on the Shroud is and failed[28]. In 1967, Leo Vala, a professional photographer and an agnostic[29] made the first three-dimensional reproduction of the Shroud face by projecting a Shroud negative photograph onto a lump of clay and sculpting it[30].
[Above (enlarge): "British photographer Leo Vala displays the photographic representation he has produced of the face of Christ. He used a unique process to develop the Turin Shroud's imprint into a three-dimensional picture. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images). 23rd January 1967"[31].]
Vala published his experiment in the March 8, 1967 issue of Amateur Photographer, stating in the article:
"I've been involved in the invention of many complicated visual processes, and I can tell you that no one could have faked that image. No one could do it today with all the technology we have. It's a perfect negative. It has a photographic quality that is extremely precise." (my emphasis)[32]
Vala became a critic of anyone who thought the image could have been produced by human hands[
33]. For a forger to have created the Shroud image without outlines and
in negative, "boggles the mind"[
34]!
Radiation caused the Shroud man's un-outlined image. In 1998 Dr August Accetta injected 
himself with the medical radioactive isotope Technetium-99 (Tc-99][35] and then his body was scanned by nuclear radiation imaging[36].
[Right (enlarge): Nuclear radiation image of Dr. August Accetta[37]. The `V' shape over Accetta's genitals is a protective shield and the projections from his abdomen and chest are some of his internal organs, which absorbed more of the Tc-99[38]. As can be seen, Accetta's radiation image has no outline, like the Shroud image[39].]
The result was a full-body radiation image, which shared characteristics of the Shroud man's image, including having no outline[40]. Accetta does not claim that the Shroud man's image was necessarily the result of nuclear radiation, nor that it reproduced exact characteristics of the Shroud image, just that the human radiation model generated a number of characteristics which parallel the image on the Shroud[41]. This indicates that some type of radiation was the cause of the Shroud man's outline-less image[42] (as we will also see in "X-ray" #20). But since "... radiation of wavelengths other than visible light were [sic] discovered in the early 19th century" (my emphasis)[43], a medieval or earlier forger could not have created by electromagnetic or nuclear radiation the man's image on the Shroud[44].
Radiocarbon date of the Shroud as "mediaeval ... 1260-1390" was wrong. That the Shroud was in Constantinople by at least 1201 is further evidence that the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud as "mediaeval ... AD 1260-1390"[45] was wrong. And if wrong, then 
[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 had been radiocarbon dated to "1260-1390!"[46].]
fraudulent[
47]. That is because 1260-1390 is 1325 ± 65 years[
48], the mid-point of which, 1325[
49], is a mere ~30 years[
50], before the Shroud
first appeared in undisputed history at Lirey, France, in ~1355[
51].
Shroud sceptics seized on 1325 as
the date of the Shroud[
52]. They were
certain that the Shroud
had to be a medieval fake because the improbability would be "astronomical"[
53], "one in a thousand trillion"[
54] and indeed "totally impossible"[
55] that the Shroud could be first-century yet have a 13th-14th century radiocarbon date, let alone the `bull's-eye' date of 1325[
56]. But the flip-side is that since the Shroud
is authentic (as the
evidence overwhelmingly indicates)[
57], and therefore first century, then the improbability would be "astronomical," "one in a thousand trillion" and indeed "totally impossible" that the Shroud could have a 1260-1390 radiocarbon date!
Attempts by pro-authenticists to reconcile the Shroud's first century actual date with the claimed 1260-1390 radiocarbon date, are understandable, but as I showed in part #1 of my series, "The 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Turin Shroud was the result of a computer hacking," conventional explanations of the discrepancy, i.e. carbon contamination, bioplastic coating, invisible repair, neutron flux, all fail. Similarly, as I also showed in that part #1, accusations of conventional fraud (e.g. sample-switching) also fail.
Agnostic pro-authenticist art historian Thomas de Wesselow considers fraud in the Shroud's radiocarbon dating to be a real possibility (albeit by sample-swapping), because of the "1325 ± 65 years" date:
"The third possibility is that a fraud was perpetrated, that genuine Shroud samples were deliberately swapped with cloth of a later date ... Most sindonologists regard these fraud theories as plainly incredible. Some, like Ian Wilson, refuse to contemplate such `unworthy' accusations. However, scientific fraud is by no means unknown, as the editors of science journals are well aware. ... One important consideration weighs in favour of the possibility of deception. If the carbon-dating error was accidental, then it is a remarkable coincidence that the result tallies so well with the date always claimed by sceptics as the Shroud's historical debut. But if fraud was involved, then it wouldn't be a coincidence at all. Had anyone wished to discredit the Shroud, '1325 ± 65 years' is precisely the sort of date they would have looked to achieve" (my emphasis)[58].
But as I pointed out near the end of that
part #1:
"... there is another type of fraud that the fully computerised AMS radiocarbon dating process[59] was vulnerable to, and which was rife in the 1980s [see part #2], namely computer hacking!"
Continued in part #15 of this series.
Notes
1. This post is copyright. Permission is granted 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 post. [return]
2. Barnes, A.S., 1934, "The Holy Shroud of Turin," Burns Oates & Washbourne: London, p.14; Iannone, J.C., 1998, "The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin: New Scientific Evidence," St Pauls: Staten Island NY, pp.71, 156; Wilson, I. & Schwortz, B., 2000, "The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence," Michael O'Mara Books: London, pp.38-39. [return]
3. Extract from Latendresse, M., 2010, "Shroud Scope: Durante 2002 Vertical," Sindonology.org. [return]
4. Currer-Briggs, N., 1988, "The Shroud and the Grail: A Modern Quest for the True Grail," St. Martin's Press: New York NY, p.33; Currer-Briggs, N., 1995, "Shroud Mafia: The Creation of a Relic?," Book Guild: Sussex UK, p.12. [return]
5. Iannone, 1998, p.6. [return]
6. Drews, R., 1984, "In Search of the Shroud of Turin: New Light on Its History and Origins," Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham MD, p.16; Iannone, 1998, p.177; Oxley, M., 2010, "The Challenge of the Shroud: History, Science and the Shroud of Turin," AuthorHouse: Milton Keynes UK, p.3. [return]
7. Wilson, I., 1991, "Holy Faces, Secret Places: The Quest for Jesus' True Likeness," Doubleday: London, p.23; Hoare, R., 1995, "The Turin Shroud Is Genuine: The Irrefutable Evidence," [1984], Souvenir Press: London, p.52. [return]
8. Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition, p.22; Iannone, 1998, p.6; Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY, p.21; Wilson & Schwortz, 2000, p.39; Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London, p.11. [return]
9. Wilson & Schwortz, 2000, p.39. [return]
10. Currer-Briggs, 1988, p.33; Currer-Briggs, 1995, p.12. [return]
11. Bulst, W., 1957, "The Shroud of Turin," McKenna, S. & Galvin, J.J., transl., Bruce Publishing Co: Milwaukee WI, p.31. [return]
12. Barnes, 1934, p.14. [return]
13. Barnes, 1934, p.14. [return]
14. Adler, A.D., 2000b, "Chemical and Physical Aspects of the Sindonic Images," in Adler, A.D. & Crispino, D., ed., 2002, "The Orphaned Manuscript: A Gathering of Publications on the Shroud of Turin," Effatà Editrice: Cantalupa, Italy, p.17. [return]
15. Adler, A.D., 2000a, "Chemical and Physical Characteristics of the Bloodstains," in Adler & Crispino, 2002, pp.132-133. [return]
16. de Wesselow, T., 2012, "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection," Viking: London, p.176; Scavone, D., "The Shroud of Turin in Constantinople: The Documentary Evidence," in Sutton, R.F., Jr., 1989, "Daidalikon: Studies in Memory of Raymond V Schoder," Bolchazy Carducci Publishers: Wauconda IL, pp.320-321; Wilson, 1991, p.155; Wilson, 1998, p.145. [return]
17. Wilson, 1991, p.155; Wilson, 1998, p.145; de Wesselow, 2012, pp.176-177. [return]
18. Wilson, 1998, pp.145, 225 n.2; de Wesselow, 2012, p.176. [return]
19. Scavone, 1989, p.321. [return]
20. Abbott-Smith, G., "A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament," [1921], T. & T. Clark: Edinburgh, Third edition, 1937, Reprinted, 1956, pp.2, 354, 267. [return]
21. Abbott-Smith, 1937, p.46. [return]
22. de Wesselow, 2012, p.176. [return]
23. Wilson, 1991, p.155; Wilson, 1998, p.145. [return]
24. Scavone, 1989, p.321; Wilson, 1991, p.155; Wilson, 1998, p.272. [return]
25. Wilson, 1991, p.155; Wilson, 1998, p.145; de Wesselow, 2012, p.176. [return]
26. de Wesselow, 2012, p.176; Wilson, 1991, p.3; Wilson, 1998, pp.125, 141; Wilson & Schwortz, 2000, p.113; Wilson, 2010, p.108. [return]
27. Shepard, L., 1970, in Vignon, P., 1902, "The Shroud of Christ," University Books: New York NY, Reprinted, p.vii.; 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, pp.15, 57; Maher, R.W., 1986, "Science, History, and the Shroud of Turin," Vantage Press: New York NY, p.72. [return]
28. Brent, P. & Rolfe, D., 1978, "The Silent Witness: The Mysteries of the Turin Shroud Revealed," Futura Publications: London, p.36. [return]
29. Wilson, 1998, p.19; Wilson, 2010, p.21. [return]
30. Wilson, 1979, p.34-35; Morgan, R.H., 1980, "Perpetual Miracle: Secrets of the Holy Shroud of Turin by an Eye Witness," Runciman Press: Manly NSW, Australia, pp.128-129; Tribbe, F.C., 2006, "Portrait of Jesus: The Illustrated Story of the Shroud of Turin," [1983], Paragon House Publishers: St. Paul MN, Second edition, pp.254. [return]
31. "Simply Some Photos," Avax News, 1 October 2011. [return]
32. Vala, L., 1967, "The Holy Shroud of Turin," Amateur Photographer, March 8, pp.332-335, in Wilcox, R.K., 1977, "Shroud," Macmillan: New York NY, pp.130-131 & Wilson, 2010, p.21. [return]
33. Wilcox, R.K., 1977, "Shroud," Macmillan: New York NY, pp.130-131. [return]
34. Wilson, 1998, p.24. [return]
35. Accetta, A.D., Lyons, K. & Jackson, J., 1999, "Nuclear Medicine and its Relevance to the Shroud Of Turin," in Walsh, B.J., ed., "Proceedings of the 1999 Shroud of Turin International Research Conference, Richmond, Virginia," Magisterium Press: Glen Allen VA, 2000, pp.3-8, 3. [return]
36. Whiting, B., 2006, "The Shroud Story," Harbour Publishing: Strathfield NSW, Australia, p.181. [return]
37. Wilson & Schwortz, 2000, p.131. [return]
38. Ibid. [return]
39. Accetta, 1999, p.4; Whiting, 2006, pp.181-182. [return]
40. Accetta, 1999, p.4; Wilson & Schwortz, 2000, p.130; Whiting, 2006, p.182. [return]
41. Accetta, 1999, p.4. [return]
42. Antonacci, M., 2000, "Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence," M. Evans & Co: New York NY, p.212. [return]
43. "Radiation: Discovery," Wikipedia, 8 June 2016. [return]
44. Antonacci, 2000, p.213. [return]
45. Damon, P.E., 1989, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," Nature, Vol. 337, 16th February, pp.611-615, 611. [return]
46. Wilson, 1998, p.7 & pl.3b. [return]
47. Wilson, 1998, p.8. [return]
48. McCrone, W.C., 1999, "Judgment Day for the Shroud of Turin," Prometheus Books: Amherst NY, pp.1,141,178,246; Wilson, 1998, p.7; Oxley, 2010, p.87; de Wesselow, 2012, p.171. [return]
49. Tribbe, 2006, p.169; Tipler, F.J., 2007, "The Physics of Christianity," Doubleday: New York NY, p.177. [return]
50. Gove, H.E., 1996, "Relic, Icon or Hoax?: Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud," Institute of Physics Publishing: Bristol UK, pp.264, 300; Milne, L., 2005, "A Grain of Truth: How Pollen Brought a Murderer to Justice," New Holland: Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia, p.93. [return]
51. Scavone, D.C., "The History of the Turin Shroud to the 14th C.," in Berard, A., ed., 1991, "History, Science, Theology and the Shroud," Symposium Proceedings, St. Louis Missouri, June 22-23, 1991, The Man in the Shroud Committee of Amarillo, Texas: Amarillo TX, pp.171-204, 174; Oxley, 2010, p.4; Wilson, 2010, pp.222-223. [return]
52. McCrone, W.C., 1999, "Judgment Day for the Shroud of Turin," Prometheus Books: Amherst NY, pp.xxiii, xx, 247; Schafersman, S.D., 1998, "Unraveling the Shroud of Turin," Approfondimento Sindone, Vol. 2; Dutton, D., 2005, "Postscript: Requiem for the Shroud of Turin," Michigan Quarterly Review 23, 1984, pp.243-55; Gove, 1996, p.293. [return]
53. Wilson, 1998, pp.6-7. [return]
54. Gove, 1996, p.303. [return]
55. Currer-Briggs, N., 1995, "Shroud Mafia: The Creation of a Relic?," Book Guild: Sussex UK, pp.114-115. [return]
56. Meacham, W., 1986, "On Carbon Dating the Shroud," British Society for the Turin Shroud Newsletter, No. 14, September, pp.4-15, 10; Meacham, W., 1986, "On Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud," Shroud Spectrum International, No. 19, June, pp.15-25, 20; Nickell, J., 2013, "Another Easter for the Turin `Shroud'," Investigative Briefs with Joe Nickell, Center For Inquiry, March 28. [return]
57. Morgan, 1980, p.116; Adams, F.O., 1982, "Sindon: A Layman's Guide to the Shroud of Turin," Synergy Books: Tempe AZ, p.86; Minor, M., 1990, "Shroud of Turin Manuscript Discovered By Texas Member," [originally "A Lawyer Argues for Authenticity of the Shroud of Turin"], The Manuscript Society News, Vol. XI, No. 4, Fall, pp.117-122, 122; Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., 1990, "The Shroud and the Controversy," Thomas Nelson: Nashville TN, pp.60; Case, T.W., 1996, "The Shroud of Turin and the C-14 Dating Fiasco," White Horse Press: Cincinnati OH, p.26; Antonacci, 2000, p.6; Meacham, W., 2005, "The Rape of the Turin Shroud: How Christianity's Most Precious Relic was Wrongly Condemned and Violated," Lulu Press: Morrisville NC, pp.110-111. [return]
58. de Wesselow, 2012, p.170. [return]
59. Gove, 1996, p.264; Sox, H.D., 1988, "The Shroud Unmasked: Uncovering the Greatest Forgery of All Time," The Lamp Press: Basingstoke UK, p.147. [return]
Posted 11 June 2016. Updated 13 September 2025.
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