Shroud Science'

INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL Science vs. 'Shroud Science' n what Time magazine called a "sort attempts to explain the image. Simple timed to begin a week after Easter, of resurrection," the Shroud of Turin contact imprinting was soon ruled out and media coverage before and during Icontroversy has risen once again. It due to the image's lack of wraparound the religious season was intense. In addi- was sparked by the reputed burial cloth's distortions, and a concept called tion to a spate of new books, including exhibition during April and May in "vaporography" was disproved when the Ian Wilson's The Blood and the Shroud, Turin, Italy, the first public showing in postulated vapors were shown to produce there was a flurry of newspaper and two decades. It also marked the one- only a blur. In time "the first Polaroid in magazine articles as well as TV news seg- hundredth anniversary of the first pho- Palestine" was ascribed by proponents to ments. Alas, shroud science was well tograph of the cloth's image—that of a "flash photolysis," a "theory" that the served by shroud journalism, whereby man who appears to have been crucified image was produced by a miraculous reporters' questions about authenticity like Jesus in the Christian gospels (Van burst of radiant energy at the time of were directed primarily to shroud Biema 1998). Jesus' resurrection (Nickell 1988). proponents—rather like asking members of the Flat Earth Society about the curvature of the earth. Miraculous "Photograph" "Shroud Science" Perhaps the most used word during The 1898 photographer's glass-plate With such notions came an unfortunate the shroud media blitz was "mystery." negatives revealed a startlingly realistic abuse of science. Whereas the scientific But honest journalists don't engage in positive image, with the prominences in approach is to let the evidence lead to a mystery mongering. Instead, like all true highlight and the recesses in shadow. solution, "shroud science" (or "sin- investigators, they believe mysteries are Therefore the image on the cloth, donology") begins with the desired meant to be carefully and fairly exam- shroud advocates claimed, was "a perfect answer and then works backward, dis- ined. In the case of the Shroud of Turin, photographic negative." They insisted missing or rationalizing whatever argu- the question of authenticity was long no artist could have painted such an ments or evidence may be incompatible ago settled. image before the concept of photogra- with it. It was therefore difficult to phy. (Actually the image is only a quasi- imagine that it was scientists who were The Historical Record negative, the hair and beard being the so readily invoking a miracle. opposite of the features and giving the Unfortunately, the forty-some-member To begin at the beginning, the Shroud effect, when a positive is made, that Shroud of Turin Research Project of Turin contradicts the Gospel of John, Jesus was a white-bearded old man. See (STURP), which conducted the 1978 which describes multiple cloths for Figure 1.) investigation of the shroud, was woe- Jesus' burial, including a separate "nap- With the photographs began the fully unqualified for the task. Many kin" over the face, as well as "an hundred modern era of the shroud, prompting members were operating out of their pound weight" of spices—not a trace of specific fields, and bad—certainly ques- which appears on the Turin cloth. And Joe Nickell is author of Inquest on the tionable—science was rampant. That nowhere in the New Testament is there- Shroud of Turin, originally published in situation continues in sindonology mention of a remarkable portrait of 1983, soon to be reissued by Prometheus today. Jesus having been left on his burial gar- Books. The 1998 exposition was shrewdly ment. In addition, no examples of the 2 0 July/August 1998 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Shroud's particular herringbone twill weave date from the first century. Although Jesus's body would have been ritually washed, as mandated by the Jewish Mishnah, the "body" imaged on the shroud was not cleansed (as shown by the dried blood on the arms). Some sindonologists attempt to circumvent the problem by citing a passage from the Code of Jewish law, but the supposed exception dates from some fifteen centuries after Christ and poorly applies to one who was buried "as the manner of the Jews is to bury" (John 19:40). Although there have been some forty Holy Shrouds—along with odier "relics" of Jesus, including vials of his tears and countless pieces of the True Cross— there is no record of the Turin cloth until Figure 1. Positive and negative photographs of the face on the Shroud of Turin. A medieval artist the mid-1350s. At that time a French reportedly admitted it was his handiwork, and scientific analyses confirm the presence of tempera bishop, Henri de Poitiers, was suspicious paint. of its utter lack of provenance, question- ing why the early evangelists had failed Everywhere the "blood" flows are unre¬ examination of the "blood." In 1973, as to mention such a marvel or why it had alistically neat. Instead of matting the pan of a special commission of scientists remained hidden for thirteen centuries. hair, for instance, they run in rivulets on and scholars, internationally known The shroud's owner, a soldier of fortune the outside of the locks. And even the forensic serologists subjected the blood- named Geoffroy de Charny, never dried blood has implausibly transferred. stains to a battery of scientific tests, all explained how he, a man of modest In addition, real blood soaks into cloth of which proved negative: the substance means, had acquired the most holy relic and spreads in all directions, rather than lacked the properties of blood. These in all of Christendom (Nickell 1988). leaving picturelike images. As the noted tests included chemical analyses, thin- According to a later bishop's report to pathologist Dr. Michael Baden observes layer chromatography, and neutron acti- Pope Clement VII, dated 1389, Henri of the overall shroud image, "Human vation analysis, as well as attempts to discovered that die shroud originated as beings don't produce this kind of pat- identify blood group and species. In part of a phony faith-healing scheme. tern" (Baden 1980). fact, die scientists discovered reddish "Pretended miracles" were staged, said The shroud exhibits many features granules that would not even dissolve in the reports author. Bishop Pierre that point specifically to artistry. For reagents that dissolve blood. D'Arcis, "so that money might cunning- example, while St. Augustine lamented Subsequently the distinguished micro- ly be wrung" from unsuspecting pil- in the early fifth century that nothing analyst Walter McCrone identified die grims. "Eventually, after diligent inquiry whatsoever was known of Jesus' appear- blood as red ocher and vermilion tem- and examination," he stated. Bishop ance, the shroud image portrays the tra- pera paint, which explained why it was Henri "discovered the fraud and how ditional, evolved artistic likeness. Also, bright red after at least seven centuries. the said cloth had been cunningly paint- by the eleventh century, artists were rep- McCrone (who was, he says, ed, the truth being attested by the artist resenting Jesus' burial wirft a double- "drummed out" of STURP for his who had painted it, to wit, that it was a length linen cloth and the hands crossed efforts) also discovered that on the work of human skill and not miracu- over die groin (unlike Jewish burial image—but not on the background— lously wrought or bestowed." (Emphasis practice in which they were typically were significant amounts of die red added.) folded on the chest). And from the thir- ocher pigment. He first thought this was That the shroud is indeed the work teenth century we find ceremonial or applied as a dry powder but later con- of a medieval artist would explain symbolic shrouds bearing full-length cluded it was a component of dilute numerous image flaws. For example, the embroidered images of Christ's body in paint applied in the medieval grisaille physique is unnaturally elongated (like this crossed — hands pose. (monochromatic) technique. (McCrone figures in Gothic an!). Also, the hair believes the artist worked freehand; hangs as for a standing rather than another possibility is shown in Figure Scientific Analyses recumbent figure, and die imprint of a 2.) (McCrone 1996) bloody foot is incompatible with the The question of artistry versus authen- In 1988 the shroud cloth was finally outstretched leg to which it belongs. ticity is especially addressed by scientific carbon dated. Using accelerator mass SKEPTICAL INQUIRER July/August 1998 21 turies there would have to be twice as the shroud is the handiwork of a much contamination by weight as the medieval artisan. The various pieces of shroud cloth itself! (Pickett 1996) the puzzle effectively interlock and cor- . Another recent claim concerns roborate each other. For example, the reported evidence of human DNA in a artist's admission is supported by the 1 ' *k ft; shroud "blood" sample. Actually, the lack of prior record, as well as by the scientist cited, Victor Tryon of the revealingly red and picturelike "blood" University of Texas, insists that that, in turn, has been identified as tem- I "Everyone who has ever touched the pera paint. And the radiocarbon date is shroud or cried over the shroud has left consistent with the time the artist was a potential DNA signal there." Tryon discovered. 1 resigned from the new shroud project Given this powerful, convincing evi- due to what he disparaged as "zealotry in dence, it is unfortunate that we must > science." (Van Biema 1998, p.

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