Scientists make surprising discovery after analyzing cloth in which ‘Jesus was buried’

Italian researchers used a special X-ray technique to see how the threads of the Shroud of Turin have aged, revealing that the Shroud was made around the time of Christ, about 2,000 years ago.

A controversial linen shroud, believed by some to be the burial shroud in which Jesus was buried, has baffled the world for centuries.

When the Shroud of Turin was first exhibited in the 1350s, it was touted as the actual shroud in which Christ’s mutilated body was wrapped after his crucifixion.

Also known as the Holy Shroud, it bears a faint image of the front and back of a bearded man. Many believers believe it represents the body of Jesus, miraculously imprinted into the cloth.

However, research in the 1980s seemed to disprove the idea that the statue was genuine, after it was dated to the Middle Ages, hundreds of years after the death of Christ.

Italian researchers have used a new X-ray technique to date the material and have now confirmed that it was made around the time of Jesus, some 2,000 years ago.

They say the fact that the timelines match lends credence to the idea that the faint, bloodstained pattern of a man with his arms crossed was left behind by the dead body of Jesus.

The Bible tells us that Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen shroud and placed it in a tomb.

The Bible says that Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen shroud and placed it in a new tomb

Matthew 27:59-60 reads, “Then Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a new linen cloth. He laid the body of Jesus in a new tomb which he had dug in the rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a very large stone and covering the entrance. When he had done this, he went out.”

Since its first presentation to the public in the 1350s, the shroud has captured the imagination of historians, church leaders, skeptics, and Catholics.

The French knight Geoffroi de Charny gave it to the dean of the church in Lirey, France, and declared it the Holy Shroud.

It has has been kept in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy since 1578.

It appears that the fabric shows vague, brown images on the front and back. It concerns a thin man with deep-set eyes, who is approximately 1.70 to 1.80 meters tall.

The markings on the body also match the crucifixion wounds of Jesus mentioned in the Bible, such as thorns on the head, cuts on the back and bruises on the shoulders.

Historians have suggested that the cross he carried on his shoulders weighed approximately 300 pounds (136 kg), which would have caused bruising.

The Bible tells us that the Romans flogged Jesus, inflicting wounds on his back, and placed a crown of thorns on his head before the crucifixion.

In 1988, an international research team analyzed a small piece of the shroud using carbon dating, which determined that the cloth was likely made sometime between 1260 and 1390 AD.

This technique uses the decay of a radioactive isotope of carbon (14C) to determine the time and date of objects containing carbonaceous material.

The 4.2-metre-long Shroud of Turin is touted as the wrapping used for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion, and features a faint, bloodstained pattern of a man with his arms folded in front of him

Some experts have said that the authenticity of the linen can no longer be questioned. They claim that the linen is made from flax grown in the Middle East and that a crown of thorns in the shape of a helmet is on the man’s face.

However, others believe it is a forgery, as carbon dating was done in 1988 in three different labs and all three showed it to be only seven centuries old.

For the new study, scientists from the Italian Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council conducted a recent study using wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS).

The technology measures the natural aging of flax cellulose and converts this into time since production.

The team studied eight small samples of the Shroud of Turin fabric, exposing them to X-rays to reveal tiny details of the linen’s structure and cellulose patterns.

Cellulose is made up of long chains of linked sugar molecules that break down over time. This indicates how long a garment or textile has been around.

To date the shroud, the team used specific aging parameters, including temperature and humidity, which cause significant breakdown of cellulose.

Based on the degree of decomposition, the team determined that the Shroud of Turin was likely kept at a temperature of about 22 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of about 55 percent for 13 centuries before arriving in Europe.

If it had been stored under different conditions, the aging would also have been different.

The researchers then compared the breakdown of cellulose in the shroud with other linen fabrics found in Israel dating back to the first century.

‘The data profiles were fully compatible with analog measurements obtained on a linen sample dated, according to historical data, to 55-74 AD and found at Masada, Israel. [Herod’s famous fortress built on a limestone bedrock overlooking the Dead Sea]’, reads the study published in the journal Heritage.

The team also compared the shroud to samples of linen produced between 1260 and 1390 AD, but none matched.

“To reconcile the current results with those of the 1988 radiocarbon dating test, the Shroud of the Resurrection would have had to have been preserved throughout its hypothetical seven-century existence at secular room temperatures very close to the maximum values ​​recorded on Earth,” the study said.

The Shroud of Turin features an image of a man with sunken eyes, which has been analyzed by experts under different filters to study it (see image)

The Shroud has been kept in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy since 1578.

Lead researcher Dr. Liberato De Caro said in a statement that the 1988 test should be considered flawed because “dust samples are typically subject to all kinds of contamination, which cannot be completely removed from the dated sample.”

“If the sample cleaning procedure is not done thoroughly, carbon-14 dating is not reliable,” he added.

‘This may have been the case in 1988, as confirmed by experimental evidence showing that there is a significant increase in carbon-14 as one moves from the periphery towards the centre of the leaf, along the longest side.’

Scientists have long studied the Shroud of Turin in hopes of unraveling this age-old mystery.

Since the 1980s, over 170 peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published on the mysterious linen, with many concluding that it is an authentic linen.

In the 1970s, tests were conducted to determine whether the images had been created using paint, scorching, or other means, but this could not be confirmed.

Another group of experts from the Institute of Crystallography announced in 2017 that they had found evidence that the shroud contained the blood of a torture victim.

They claimed to have identified substances such as creatinine and ferritin that are commonly found in patients who have suffered serious injuries.

The alleged findings contradict claims that Jesus’ face was painted onto the corpse by forgers in the Middle Ages.