In a podcast on 22 June 2024, Jack Markwardt set out the evidence for his “Antioch” hypothesis, as regards primary sources dated from 30 – 500 AD.1 I had the honour of being a participant, and occasional commenter, but I have to confess that some of the primary sources were unfamiliar to me, and on […]
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A recent article in the newsletter of the British Society for the Turin Shroud1 explores the hypothesis that the Shroud is medieval on historical grounds, and dismisses it on the grounds that there is insufficient evidence to support it. Seven of the twelve pages are devoted to an assault on the integrity of Ulysse Chevalier […]
In general, the chemical elements appear on earth with atoms of the same weight – with the same number of protons and neutrons in their nuclei. Carbon is mostly Carbon-12, Oxygen is mostly Oxygen-16, and Hydrogen is mostly Hydrogen-1. However, as we know only too well from radiocarbon dating exercises, atoms of different weights also […]
In 2019, as part of the Post-Graduate Certificate in Shroud Studies, I listed the founding of shroud.com as the first of my three “most important events in Sindonology since 1981,” and the death of its founder, Barrie Schwortz, on 21 June, has plunged its future, and the future of Shroud Studies in general, into serious […]
[Edited to take account of the comment by Michael Kowalski, below] On 18 April 2024, two months ago as I write this, an online petition appeared on change.org, calling for “the retraction or amendment of the article published February 16th, 1989 by Nature Magazine titled ‘Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin.’” The grounds for […]
[After this article was posted, Tom McAvoy was kind enough to respond, and a lively, detailed correspondence ensued. A résumé is included at the end of this original post, so please make sure you read the whole thing to get the full balance of opinion on the subject.] In a recent paper in Applied Optics,1 […]
Make a piece of Shroud-like textile – on a warp-weighted loom. Let’s forget about the image, which may or may not be miraculous, and focus on the cloth, which is surely mostly thought of as an entirely man-made product. It’s a fine, linen, 3/1 chevron twill, and all the textile experts to study it have […]
“So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see.So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” William Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII It is Easter weekend. Yesterday we commemorated the death of a man called Jesus two thousand years ago, his deposition in a cave tomb, and his envelopment in a cloth of fine […]
I have been inspired to revisit the question of pollen on the Shroud of Turin by the publication of two interesting papers, analysing some pollen assemblages of First Century Jerusalem and Medieval Europe respectively. 1 The title of this article relates to the location of these assemblies, a town drain running roughly from the Temple […]
Muddlehead: I wish my master was dead!Eyebald: Then why not do something about it?Muddlehead: I wouldn’t mind.Eyebald: Tell me how.Muddlehead: You couldn’t keep it secret.Eyebald: My lips are zipped.Muddlehead: I know you too well.Eyebald: No, honestly, trust me.Muddlehead: Only as far as I can throw you.Eyebald: All right, listen. You know my master hates yours?Muddlehead: […]