The Shroud of Turin is a religious relic believed to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. It bears a faint image of a man’s body consistent with death by crucifixion. The shroud’s origin and authenticity are debated, with theories ranging from miraculous to natural explanations, and even the possibility of it being a hoax. Carbon dating places the fabric’s age in the Middle Ages, but some argue that the test may have been inaccurate or that the threads tested were not representative of the shroud.
The Shroud of Turin is an ancient artifact that many believe to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. Kept as a religious relic in the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, the Shroud is a small piece of fabric about 15 feet (4½ meters) long by 3½ feet (1 meter) wide. It is thought to be a burial shroud because it bears a faint image, barely discernible except in photographs, of a man’s body. The image on the shroud shows a man bearing wounds consistent with death by crucifixion. There are two images, head to head, as if a body is laid on the cloth, feet on an edge, and the cloth is folded over the body.
The first demonstrable appearance of the Shroud of Turin occurred in 1357, in France. It was then claimed that it was Jesus’ burial shroud, and earlier reports exist that it may refer to the same cloth in various places on its journey to – possibly – Turin, but 1357 is the first apparition after which the location of the Shroud was continuously known. .
There are numerous theories, miraculous and natural, to explain how the image on the Shroud of Turin was born. The miraculous explanation is that the image was formed the moment Jesus was resurrected, as a byproduct of the energy that was released. A more natural explanation is that it was a chemical interaction, similar to the photograph, between the shroud cloth and the gas released by a decomposing body. This explanation, if true, says nothing about the identity of the inhabitant of the Shroud.
Some scientists even entertain the possibility that the image on the Shroud is a hoax perpetrated in the Middle Ages, perhaps by Leonardo da Vinci, known to love jokes and hoaxes of this type. Others point to the fact that the image was visible before Leonardo’s time. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a hoax, of course, but it does reduce the possibility that Leonardo was the culprit, although it’s still possible that he increased the resemblance to a man’s face with a little artistic license.
In 1988, tiny fragments of the Shroud of Turin were collected for carbon dating. Since the material being dated was destroyed in the test, Shroud owners were reluctant to part with more than minute threads. The carbon dating test, which can accurately tell the age of anything once living, such as the fibers that made up the fabric itself, places the fabric’s age squarely in the Middle Ages. That is, if carbon dating had been performed correctly, the Shroud of Turin could not have been Jesus’ burial shroud, since the fabric came from plants that lived over a thousand years after his time.
Many people invested in the Shroud of Turin’s authenticity argue that carbon dating the Shroud proves nothing. The chapel housing the shroud was damaged in a fire in the 1500s—the test may have simply dated the smoke or ash particles from that fire, they say. The threads may also have been taken from patches that were placed on the shroud after this event. In any case, no further samples have been made available for scientific dating. Consequently, people who want to believe in the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and people who want to believe it is a hoax or an artifact from the Middle Ages, are equally free to do so.
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