Posted by Tina
The Shroud of Turin, one of the most sacred and mysterious relics of Christendom, may not be a medieval forgery after all, according to a new BBC film.
Internationally renowned Swiss textile conservator Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, who was interviewed for the film, always doubted the results the carbon-14 dating tests carried out on the shroud in 1988. ** At that time three leading laboratories in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona – concluded that the shroud must have been made between 1260 and 1390. New evidence from various sources suggest that it could go back to the first century. ** “If I had had the decision I never would have done carbon-14 dating on the shroud,” Flury-Lemberg told swissinfo. The fact that the shroud has been exposed to its surroundings could have falsified the data, she explained. ** The shroud suffered its greatest damage in 1532, when the chapel it was kept in caught fire, and drops of molten silver from the case which held it burnt large holes in the fabric. Nuns repaired the shroud by sewing it onto a backing cloth and placing patches over the holes. ** These patches remained untouched for over 450 years until Flury-Lemberg and her assistant removed them. Underneath they found accumulated carbon dust, which had also got into the backing and into the fabric of the shroud itself as it had been rolled and unrolled over the centuries to be exhibited to the faithful. ** She believes this dust could very well have skewed the data used in the carbon-14 tests. She also points to the corner that was used for the tests, which was part of a water stain. “When the water runs over the textile it takes all the dirt with it. So at this corner you have the whole concentrated dirt. You can imagine that it was an extremely dirty sample, and also because at the corners of course people always held it,” she explained. “Therefore it made no sense to analyse this piece using carbon-14.”
Find the article here: Sacred relic still shrouded in mystery, by Julia Slater, swissinfo