Originally published in Relevant Magazine
A new study has found “proof” that suggests that the Shroud of Turin — long believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ — could indeed date back to the time of Christ.
Published in the journal Heritage, the new research challenges the prevailing scientific consensus that the shroud is a medieval forgery, sparking renewed interest in the centuries-old debate. The Shroud of Turin, housed in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, has been the subject of intense scrutiny and fascination for years.
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The faint image of a man on the linen has led some to believe it is the miraculous imprint of Jesus’ body. While the latest study doesn’t dive into whether the Shroud was actually Christ’s burial cloth, it does suggest the artifact could be around 2,000 years old — placing it within the time frame of Jesus’ life.
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This stands in stark contrast to a pivotal carbon dating study from the late 1980s, which dated the Shroud to between A.D. 1260 and A.D. 1390. That finding, aligning with the Shroud’s first documented appearance in France in the 1350s, had led many to conclude that the artifact was a medieval creation meant to look authentic.
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However, the new study, led by Liberato De Caro from the Institute of Crystallography in Italy, employed a novel approach. By analyzing a small sample of the Shroud using Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering, the team examined the structural degradation of the linen threads. Their findings revealed that the sample’s age was “fully compatible” with linen dating back to A.D. 55-74, suggesting that the Shroud could actually be a relic from the time of Jesus.
De Caro and his team argue that the previous carbon dating may have been flawed due to contamination — a claim that other scholars have suggested in the past. Their WAXS analysis showed that the degradation of cellulose in the Shroud’s fibers was consistent with the natural aging process expected over two millennia. The study also highlighted the need for “a more accurate and systematic X-ray investigation of more samples” to verify their findings.
The researchers note that for their results to align with a 2,000-year-old artifact, the Shroud would have needed to be kept in stable environmental conditions — around 68-72.5°F with 55-75% relative humidity — for over 13 centuries of its unknown history. These precise conditions, they argue, could explain why the Shroud’s radiocarbon dating appeared younger if it had been exposed to more volatile conditions later.
While this new research has added another layer of complexity to the Shroud’s already enigmatic history, it’s far from providing a definitive answer. The Shroud of Turin remains, as ever, an artifact shrouded in mystery.
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