By 
I’m sure this will be a shock to you all, but it seems the Shroud of Turin is not a magic xerox of the risen Jesus. An Italian scientist claims he has reproduced the technique:
An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ’s burial cloth is a medieval fake.
The shroud, measuring 14 feet, 4 inches by 3 feet, 7 inches (4.4 by 1.2 metres) bears the image, eerily reversed like a photographic negative, of a crucified man some believers say is Christ.
“We have shown that is possible to reproduce something which has the same characteristics as the Shroud,” Luigi Garlaschelli, who is due to illustrate the results at a conference on the para-normal this weekend in northern Italy, said on Monday….
Carbon dating tests by laboratories in Oxford, Zurich and Tucson, Arizona in 1988 caused a sensation by dating it from between 1260 and 1390. Sceptics said it was a hoax, possibly made to attract the profitable medieval pilgrimage business.
But scientists have thus far been at a loss to explain how the image was left on the cloth. Garlaschelli reproduced the full-sized shroud using materials and techniques that were available in the middle ages.
They placed a linen sheet flat over a volunteer and then rubbed it with a pigment containing traces of acid. A mask was used for the face.
The pigment was then artificially aged by heating the cloth in an oven and washing it, a process which removed it from the surface but left a fuzzy, half-tone image similar to that on the Shroud. He believes the pigment on the original Shroud faded naturally over the centuries.
There’s more information about it here. The only thing I’m surprised about is that someone didn’t do it earlier.
Oh wait… they did.
Entropist: These idiots are wrong on so many different levels, its hard to... 
Just a Guy: Me an my wife have negotiated infidelity. Meaning she can be with other guys as long as she doesn’t hide... 
Gwenny: Absolutely not! The world has plenty of people having kids. A child consumes HUGE amounts of resources, which from both a... 
Siberia: Or maybe they know they have neither patience nor inclination to deal with the fruit of their loins and thus, rather than be... 
DDM: Repubs and Dems. He’s saying they only take first impressions and... 
CM: Good point, most religions encourage having a lot of children. From an evolutionary standpoint you sort of owe it to your... 
Jasowah: “They don’t go beyond those emotions, and that’s the... 
25 Comments
Oh come on! You mean they didn’t know that the “original” was a photocopy?
They did a radio carbon date of the shroud in the 70s. It was made in the middle ages. Clearly a forgery but people don’t give a crap.
Of course they don’t give a crap! Those that believe the shroud is real also believe the Earth is 6,000 years old and dinosaurs and humans lived together. No amount of evidence to the contrary will sway them, they have FAITH!
I don’t think there is any direct connection between belief in the shroud as a holy relic and being a YEC.
Other than the fact that they are equally ridiculous.
The Shroud is a Catholic relic, and the only people who really care about its authenticity are Catholics. Very few Catholics are YECs. Assuming that all crazy religionists hold all crazy religious beliefs is just foolish.
Duh…
Maybe next they can look into the Loch Ness Monster
The Italian group think that they may have been able to recreate the Shroud of Turin. Maybe they have? But, I’d love for them to try and recreate the coffee stained image of the Virgin Mary I personally have. A few photos of the image can be found here on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/7690119@N03/sets/72157617453203072/detail/
I see brown.
I created an image very similar to that with some toilet paper.
To me the image looks more like an old man than any female virgin.
Shorter Dan:
“I see dead people!”
You know, a good washing up liquid will remove stubborn stains. If the stain is still there after washing the glass, then maybe it’s a miracle. Or maybe you need better washing up liquid.
“…Proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ’s burial cloth is a medieval fake.”
It does nothing of the sort. It proves that there is a rational explanation, and increases our (already very high) confidence that it was a fake, but honestly, even if you found papers in a mediaeval archive that said “I’ve just made a nice shroud that looks like it’s got the face of jesus on it, I’m just going to send it to Turin to see what they make of it”, it wouldn’t “prove definitively” that the Turin shroud is a mediaeval fake.
Sorry, I appear to be ranty today.
The important thing to know about this research is funded by atheists. Or so says the National Catholic Register.
This seems like an attempt by the catholics to just whine. I wonder how much money they spend trying to prove the so called artifacts as real? LOL got to love them though.
That article also falsely states, “Moreover, Church authorities continue to make the shroud available to scientists in order to assess its possible authenticity with the best means available.” The church seemed to lose interest in scientific testing after the radioisotope dating didn’t turn out like they wanted. Requests for samples for more dating (to counter claims of poor sampling) have been denied.
I think what would be great is if, instead of trying to disprove a hoax over and over again, they perfected the method for mass production, so we could all have one. I’m sure some people would miss the point, but I think I would buy one. This seems like the perfect beach blanket or shower curtain kind of thing, slipcovers for your divan or whatever.
the Church is missing out on an opportunity to make millions or even billions of dollars! the merchandising possibilities are nearly endless.
The original xy Are you being ironic? I expect you are, but you are perhaps being too subtle. Of course, we all know the The True Church (TM) has never missed out on a marketing opportunity.
I used to revel in the opportunity to engage in reductio ad absurdum with believers; especially fundies. Regardless of the ironic attempts to preface the inevitable and unassailable “it all comes down to faith” argument with competing theory blathering, all my brain registers is, “people rode dinosaurs,” or “the world is flat,” and I just smile politely as I would when a child is proud of colouring inside the lines for the first time.
And nothing has solidified my treatment of religion-based conversation more than the following quote:
I want to see a photo of what Garlaschelli has come up with. Any links?
Found 1 side by side link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1218457/Shroud-Turin-replica-proves-medieval-techniques-make-relic-say-scientists.html
Let’s check and see if this guy was good enough to
1) put the image of coins on his eyes, which scientist did realize until a few years ago.
2) get pollen that was found on the shroud that only comes from the middle east
3) and I wonder if NASA’s 3D analyzer will produce the same result on his reproduction
Pretty interesting someone would know to do an inverse image before the camera and film exposure was invented
Let’s check and see if this guy was good enough to
1) put the image of coins on his eyes, which scientist didn’t realize until a few years ago.
2) get pollen that was found on the shroud that is indigenous to that area
3) and I wonder if NASA’s 3D analyzer will produce the same result on his reproduction
Pretty interesting someone would know to do an inverse image before the camera and film exposure was invented