New research raises questions over date of Turin Shroud

New research on the Turin Shroud has called into question the results of the 1988 carbon-14 dating analysis which said that the relic was made between 1260 and 1390. In an article by Orazio Petrosillo, in the Rome newspaper Il Messaggero, last week, US scientists Sue Benford and Joseph Marino, claim that the 1988 tests, conducted at laboratories at Oxford, Tucson, Arizona and Zurich, examined the Shroud without realising it was mended with linen in the 16th century. "The mending was mediaeval, not the shroud," Petrosillo wrote. In his article he quoted an independent carbon-dating company which said that if the Shroud had been repaired many times, as was customary with relics made from abncient cloth, a mixture of 60% of 16th-century material with 40% of first-century material would have lead to the 13th century dating. Petrosillo concludes by calling for a new and more in-depth examination of the Shroud. For more information visit the official website of the Turin Shroud at: http://sindone.torino.chiesacattolica.it/en/welcome.htm