serve as evidence against the idea as well as what would serve in favor of it. Here the scientific creationist shows his true colors (the antiscience in his makeup); for, as corollaries 1 and 2 show, he has rejected in advance any possibility of dis- confirmatory evidence. If any is offered, such as a fossil taken New Evidence: The by some experts at least to signify evolution, he will automatically deny that it is a transitional form and will also cast aspersions on its dating if it is said to be older than the is a Noachian flood. Third, scientific creationists do all in their power to make the evolutionist pay the full price of his paradigm. Without defending evolution (with or without abiogenesis) any more than defending panspermia (directed or undirected), or any Could it be a "self-portrait of Christ" imprinted on his burial other conceivable means for life's earthly origin, this piece has cloth—what one glib writer called "the first Polaroid in attempted, rather, to make the scientific creationist pay the Palestine"? Or is the image of a bearded, six-foot-tall, ap- parently crucified man merely "cunningly painted," as a full price of his paradigm. Nowhere is that price higher than medieval bishop claimed? in corollaries 3 and 4. To learn the age of the earth, for exam- Is the controversial Shroud of authentic or spurious? ple, one has but to date the Noachian flood (a most dubious Relic or graven image? Recent microchemical tests have now occurrence, like the amazing beanstalk that Jack climbed) provided the long-awaited answer. To put these tests into and then reckon back, using the ages of the antediluvian perspective, however, some background data is in order. patriarchs (very shadowy figures at best, if individuals at all), The earliest mention of the shroud was in 1389 in a letter toward the days of man's miraculous creation. Finally, having from Pierre d'Arcis, Bishop of Troyes in northern France, to established that date, one reckons back three more days and Clement VII, the Avignon Pope. D'Arcis claimed that, when presto! there is the answer, the sun, moon, and stars, of the shroud was first exhibited (circa 1356) in nearby Lirey, it course, being one day younger than the earth and two days provoked skepticism among "theologians and other wise per- sons." As a result, the bishop Henri de Poitiers had conducted older than mankind. This should astound all noncreationist an investigation. Henri, said d'Arcis, uncovered a scandal: astrophysicists, geologists, paleontologists, and physical "Pretended miracles were worked, certain men being hired to anthropologists. But let the lost be astounded — and con- represent themselves as healed at the moment of the exhibition founded! of the shroud." But d'Arcis added: "Eventually, after diligent Such, in conclusion, is the paradigm of scientific inquiry and examination, he [Henri] discovered the fraud and creationism, and such is the new and improved "Brand So- how the said cloth had been cunningly painted, the truth being and-So" being offered for public consumption in general and attested by the artist who had painted it." (My emphasis.) promoted in particular for forced feeding in the elementary Following Henri de Poitier's investigation, the shroud had and secondary schools, and even in higher education. Is the been hidden away; but it had surfaced again, prompting d'Ar- product really new and improved? No, it's the same old tripe cis to lay the facts before Clement. D'Arcis, who had con- ducted a further investigation, stated: "I offer myself here as that so exercised William Jennings Bryan in Dayton, ready to supply all information sufficient to remove any doubt Tennessee, in 1925. Is it, then, that the package alone is new? concerning the facts alleged." In contrast, the owners of the Yes, due in particular to that eye-catching but bewitching shroud, the de Charny family, refused to say how they had ac- word scientific in "scientific creationism," which would seem quired the purported relic. to distinguish it from plain old biblical creationism. Does this That refusal argues in favor of the bishop's claim that the mean that the package is misleading? Yes, by proclaiming it shroud was the handiwork of a confessed forger. So does other scientific, the package makes the product a fraud. evidence. First, there is no New Testament mention of an im- The questions and answers above raise other questions, aged shroud. (Indeed, John describes—in the case of Lazarus questions whose answers will be fraught with significance for as well as Jesus—not a single length of linen but burial clothes, our civic and religious lives. In constitutional terms, who may with a separate cloth called the "napkin" covering the face.) A buy this product and use it on children as the buyer sees fit? mid-1350s artistic origin for the shroud is further suggested by the lack of historical record at that time (the bishops had Has the state no legitimate concern that creationist fictions wondered where it had been for 1300 years) and also by the are now being taught as scientific facts to credulous children resemblance of thefigure'to those of gothic art. in private Christian schools? Respecting the public schools, However, in 1898, when the shroud was first photographed, who may or must buy this product and use it equally with its a startling new discovery was made, a discovery that renewed chief rival? Who may disregard it safely, or must reject it the claims for authenticity. As he developed his photographic decisively, teaching as science, rather, that which results from plates, Secondo Pia was astonished to see positive images. natural human inquiry alone, inquiry innocent of revelations Clearly, that meant the images on the cloth itself were true and of the miraculous, to say nothing of the supersensuous and the divine? Such are the questions (moral, legal, and Joe Nickell teaches at the University of Kentucky and is close- pedagogical) that scientific creationists are forcing the rest of ly associated with a group of scientists doing independent us to ask — and answer. It is not, after all, the sort of product research and evaluation of the 's authenticity. one can simply take or leave on a private basis. •

28 r Shroud of Turin Forgery

negatives. And surely, the thinking went, no medieval forger Herbert Thurston, were tireless critics. Art expert Erwin could have created such "photographic" images. Panofsky dismissed what he termed the "notorious" Shroud of Self-styled "sindonologists" (sindon is Greek for shroud) Turin on iconographic grounds. And the modern attempt to began to hypothesize about how the negative images might account for the shroud's lack of provenance, by equating it have originated. The first hypothesis supposed that the images with the legendary Veronica's Veil (which, in any case, bore resulted from simple contact between the cloth and a body only a facial image), got short shrift from historians such as Sir covered with sweat, oils, and burial spices. However, ex- Steven Runciman. Recently, a distinguished New York perimentation dispro,ved the notion. Several investigators pathologist, Dr. Michael M. Baden, countered the so-called (myself included) showed that seriously distorted images are "medical" evidence, flagellation marks and all. One telltale in- produced when cloth is wrapped about a fully three- dication of forgery, he noted, is the appearance of the scalp dimensional form (body or statue) and then stretched flat wounds: "When the scalp bleeds," Dr. Baden stated in Medical again. Also, not all of the "body" areas that had imprinted World News (Dec. 22, 1980), "it doesn't flow in rivulets; the would have been touched by a simple draped cloth. blood mats the hair." And writing in L'Histoire (February Because of the latter fact, many sindonologists began to 1980), French biologist and shroud critic Marcel Blanc theorize that the image-forming process must have acted reported that his calculations placed the location of the nail across a distance, and thus was born the "vaporograph wounds in the palms, not in the wrists as sindonologists claim theory." This held that ammoniacal vapors (from morbid The decade of the 1970s saw the first scientific tests of the sweat) reacted with burial spices on the cloth (compared to a shroud. An official commission (1969-1976) was appointed in sensitized photographic plate) to produce a vapor "photo." secrecy. When that fact was leaked to the press by a disgruntl- Unfortunately, vapors diffuse rather than travel in straight ed sindonologist, it was denied by Turin church authorities, lines, and all that would be produced would be a blur. who later "were forced to admit what they had previously Finally, in recent years, a number of sindonologists have denied" (Robert K. Wilcox, Shroud, Macmillan, 1977, p. 44). postulated a miracle: Perhaps a burst of energy at the moment Finally, in 1976, the commission report was published. of resurrection somehow "X-rayed" or "scorched" the image A number of threads had been removed from the "blood" onto the cloth! This hypothesis would withstand an objection areas and were tested by the commission's forensic experts. to the previous hypotheses—that is, that no burial cloth in the The tests were negative for peroxidase, species, blood- history of the world has ever exhibited such images. Now the grouping, and so on. Reddish granules were found in the sindonologists had a ready explanation for this: The images on "blood" images on the threads, but these would not even dis- the shroud were unique because Christ's resurrection was uni- solve; and the forensic scientists suggested the "blood" stains que. Moreover, as with vaporography (except for the substitu- were probably due to painting. Two other commission experts tion of magical rays for vapors) a "short burst of radiation" offered a suggestion as to the negative "body" imprints: They would act across a distance, and, in theory at least, could ex- thought these had been produced by some artistic printing plain the shroud images. (As we shall soon see, however, this technique using a model or molds. hypothesis too could be disproved.) Later, sindonologists played down this damaging evidence If they were not unanimous as to the cause of the images, and the skepticism, while on the other hand someone circulated sindonologists seemed to agree that the images exhibited an erroneous report. It alleged that pollen fossils found on the realistic details—flagellation marks, nails in the wrists (rather fibers conclusively placed the cloth in first-century Palestine! than the palms), and so forth—details that a medieval forger (Actually, the pollens could have originated during or after the would not have been expected to supply. fourteenth century and, since pollens are windborne for great Skeptics were not convinced. They noted that the "blood" distances — from Florida to New York, for example — the stains were suspiciously still red and "picturelike"—consistent presence of the pollens means very little, as many sin- with artistry but not with the transfer of real blood to cloth. donologists agree.) Besides, wouldn't wet blood have caused the cloth to adhere to Further tests were begun in 1978 by scientists from a group the body? And how could dried blood (as on the arms) have known as the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP), transferred at all? Then there was the linen cloth: It was in whose leaders are on the Executive Council of the Holy Shroud amazingly good condition for its reputed age; and it was of a Guild, a pro-authenticity organization . particular, complex, three-to-one herringbone twill weave, no Some of STURP's tests were inconclusive at best, but one samples of which are known to date from the first century. was certainly instructive: Ultraviolet fluorescence photography Distinguished scholars joined in the skepticism. Catholic revealed that, while known scorches from a 1532 chapel fire theologians, notably Canon and Father fluoresced, the "body" images did not fluoresce, the obvious

Summer, 1981 29 inference being that the images are not scorches as theorized. ding medium, and he observed that particles of the pigment Thus the "scorch" hypothesis went the way of the "contact" were indeed "held together with, most likely, an organic and "vaporography" hypotheses, leaving the sindonologists binder." His tests for such binders as egg albumen, starch without any viable hypothesis of image formation. paste, milk casein, and drying oils (e.g., linseed, walnut, etc.) Another STURP approach involved two scientists attemp- were negative; however, his direct chemical tests were positive ting to conduct a belated series of tests on a single sample, for a collagen (gelatin) tempera, known to have been used in vaguely identified as coming "from one of the blood areas." the Middle Ages. Although it has been claimed otherwise, the results did not McCrone considered the possibility that an artist had touch- confirm the presence of hemoglobin. The STURP results were ed up a preexisting (genuine) image, but he is now persuaded recently reviewed by forensic analyst John Fischer, a court- that "the entire image has been applied to the cloth by a highly acknowledged expert in the microchemical identification of skilled and well-informed artist." Specifically, since there are blood stains. Fischer concluded that the spectroscopic test had no brush marks, McCrone believes the tempera paint was been (as the scientists admitted) inconclusive and that a further rubbed on. chemical test was merely indicative of some kind of I concur. Earlier, in the November/December 1978 issue of porphyrinic material. The test was not specific for the Humanist and in the November 1979 Popular hematoporphyrins (and therefore not specific for blood) and Photography, I reported on my own successful experiments in from a forensic standpoint, says Fischer, the results mean very creating shroudlike negative images. The technique is similar little. Besides, by failing to use a good micro technique, the to that used in doing a rubbing of a grave slab. Briefly, it in- scientists spoiled their sample so that further tests were im- volves molding wet cloth to a bas-relief and, when it is dry, possible! rubbing on pigment. I originally used a mixture of myrrh and In all, thirty-six samples were taken from the shroud by aloes (the burial spices mentioned in the Gospel of John). But pressing sticky tape on the cloth and then mounting the various I have since experimented with making medieval-style red tapes onto microscope slides. Thirty-two of the samples, taken ochre tempera (like that identified by Dr. McCrone) and us- from image, off-image, and "blood" areas, were submitted to ing it for such rubbing images. Dr. Walter McCrone of the McCrone Research Institute in The rubbing technique not only duplicates the Chicago. McCrone is a distinguished microscopist, an author "photographic" aspect — the negative imagery — of the of The Particle Atlas, and is famous for proving Yale's shroud, but it reproduces the nonphotographic aspects as well. "Vineland Map" a forgery. (For example, there are areas within the outlines of the figure Using polarized light microscopy, McCrone discovered — that have not printed at all.) The technique has "inherent edge- on the "body" and "blood" images only — a considerable blurring properties"; and the gradation of tones and their amount of iron oxide "identical in appearance (color, arrangement gives the illusion of an image-forming process pleochroism, shape, size, crystallinity, refractive indices, and having acted across a distance. When herringbone-twill-weave birefringence) to the particles of hydrous and anhydrous iron fabric (like that of the shroud) is used, still other characteristics oxide particles, collectively known as iron earth pigment, used are produced (e.g., a tendency toward tonal striping in relation since the days of the caveman." to the weave). And there are numerous other similarities. Before considering McCrone's additional findings, it is This technique was well within medieval capabilities. In fact, amusing to note the response of some sindonologists to the rubbings had been used in Europe some two centuries before presence of the iron oxide. STURP's Ray Rogers was quoted the shroud suddenly appeared at Lirey. And the technique is by UPI as saying: "One theory was that keeping the shroud in consistent with the suggestion of the commission experts, men- an iron chest might have caused accumulations of iron oxide tioned above, that some artistic printing technique was particles to gravitate to the image area, if there was anything in employed. Rubbing is a simple form of printing. the image area to attract iron." This suggestion caused con- Radiocarbon dating of the shroud is, of course, warranted; siderable thigh-slapping among skeptics. Another example? but it is still being refused — even though a tiny sample the size According to a New York Times article, STURP's Dr. John of the tip of one's little finger would yield sufficient material Adler "believes that the shroud naturally absorbed iron oxide for several tests. in water during the linen's formation." Still, the evidence to date — of tempera paint on the image In any case, McCrone made it clear that the particles he areas, together with a demonstrable technique for producing observed were not due to rust; nor, incidentally, were they a shroudlike images, plus the report of the forger's confession product of blood. They were "pure hematite crystals," he told and other evidence -- should leave little doubt in the minds of a September 1980 meeting of the British Society for the Turin reasonable people that the so-called "Shroud" of Turin is a Shroud. (Hematite was a source for medieval iron oxide medieval fake. pigment.) At this writing I am not aware of any official response from McCrone subsequently published two reports on his fin- STURP to Dr. McCrone's findings. However, according to the dings, which amounted to a double-barreled charge against Catholic Herald, this overwhelming new evidence has produc- authenticity. (See The Microscope, vol. 28, 1980, pp. 105-128.) ed at least one sindonological casualty: The Reverend David In addition to the iron oxide pigment — generally known as Sox, long-time sindonologist and secretary of the British red ochre or Venetian Red — McCrone found a significant Society for the Turin Shroud, now doubts the alleged relic is amount of artist's vermilion. He further discovered trace authentic and has resigned his position. amounts of such other pigments as rose madder, orpiment, and By way of contrast, when I told an acquaintance that an in- ultramarine, which suggested the shroud was created in an ar- ternationally known expert had shown the image had been tist's studio. done in tempera, he replied that that did not necessarily mean Moreover, McCrone discovered that in association with the the shroud was a fake. "God," he said, "can work with red ochre was a yellow stain that had the properties of a bin- anything he wants to." •

30 Fie Lnq ii3/'