SHROUD OF TURIN
PICTURE TOUR WITH DR JOHN DESALVO
PAGE 4
C14 Tests
In October of 1988 the Shroud was dated using the C14 dating method at three different laboratories. They were the University of Arizona in the US, Oxford University in England, and the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. The British Museum supervised the tests. The age of the Shroud was dated to 1260 - 1390 AD according to these tests. What does this mean?
As a scientist, if I have 100 data points and 99 are consistent and one is off, I do not just throw away the 99 to accept the anomaly. I would take another look at the inconsistent data point and repeat the test.
Thus it is possible and in fact very likely that the C14 test produced incorrect information.
Here are some reasons why.
1) An unofficial C14 test was done in the 1970’s from one fiber removed from the Shroud. C14 tests were done on each end of the fiber and produced two different results, 300 AD and 1000 AD. That is one end of the fiber dated to 300 AD and the other end from the same fiber dated to 1000 AD. Thus one fiber gave two different dates. How could this occur? Than we have the 1988 C14 dating giving a date in the 14th century.
2) From the information above the Shroud may be a "Rogue sample", which means that some archeological samples do not lend themselves to C14 dating. No one knows why. For example a Viking Horn was dated to 2006 AD using C14 testing and snail shells still alive dated to be 26, 000 years old. Maybe the Shroud is a Rogue sample and will never give an accurate C14 date.
3) Dr. Garza-Valdes of Texas has proposed a bioplastic coating theory. He has discovered that modern bacteria coat the threads from the Shroud. It has also been demonstrated that the C14 cleaning process does not remove this bacteria and may be the reason why the dating is off. In fact, his calculations show that the amount of bacteria which he finds on the Shroud would throw off the dating by at least 1000 years and bring the date close to the first century.
4) It is possible that the fire of 1532 altered the C12-C14 ratio in the Shroud. The Shroud was sealed in a casket and this would have produced pressure cooker conditions inside. Some preliminary experiments show that this may have changed the C12-C14 ratio.
5) One physicist proposed that the image was produced by a bombardment of neutrons. Where the neutrons came from is unknown. Neutrons would definitely affect the nuclei and change the C12-C14 ratio. Is it possible the image formation process whether neutrons or some other unidentified phenomena affected the C12-C14 ratio?
6) For the 1988 C14 dating tests only one sample was removed and divided up between the 3 labs. Thus, it was one sample not three different ones. In fact it was taken from the side of the Shroud in one of the most contaminated areas of the Shroud. I propose to remove additional samples at several different locations so we have a wider sample basis. Unfortunately, permission has not been granted to do additional C14 testing due to the destructive nature of the tests.
Thus the reasons above strongly suggest that the C14 test done in 1988 was inaccurate and needs to be repeated with additional samples, better cleaning methods, and more accurate controls.
INTERESTING FINAL NOTE
In the 1940's there was an Italian
Visionary named Marie Valtorta. She claimed to have received
visions of Jesus and Mary who gave her details about their life.
These messages and communications of Jesus and Mary were
subsequently published in a 5-volume set called Poem of the Man God.
These writings have been very popular in the Catholic Church and some Pope’s
made some very positive comments about her work almost on the verge of almost approving it.
In fact, in one of Mary's apparitions at Medjugory, she said if you
want to know about my son, read Poem of the Man God, it is the
truth. I published my theory in 1983 and it wasn’t until at least until 5 years later
that I read her works when they were translated into English. I was surprised
to
read in it Jesus explains how the image on the shown was produced and it
is very close to my theory. In Volume 5 Jesus says:
The cruel bruises of my kidneys have been the most powerful chemical agent in
the miracle of the Shroud. My
kidneys, almost crushed by the scourges, were no longer able to work.
Unable to filter, urea accumulated and spread in my blood, in my body.
Uraemic intoxication and the reagent that oozed out of my corpse fixed the
impression on the cloth. They were so plentiful as to produce an
indelible impression.
I hope you enjoyed this Picture Tour
of the Shroud of Turin. If you have any questions or comments please
contact me at: drjohn@gizapyramid.com
SHROUD UPDATE
In April of 2004, two Italian scientists from the University of Padua claimed to have found a second face image on the BACK of the Shroud. Just like the front image, it is a superficial image but much fainter. Both images are in alignment with each other. The amazing observation is that there is no image or colorant between the two images.
FRONT
BACK
Front Back
I would like to dedicate this Shroud picture tour to my father, John DeSalvo Sr. , deceased, who was always interested in my work on the Shroud and a promoter of it.
I would like to thank my good friend Barry Schwortz who was the photographer during the 1978 studies of the Shroud for permission to use his photos. Barry's web site is www.shroud.com
I would also like to thank archeologist Paul Maloney from Pennsylvania who is Project Director for ASSIST and in my opinion the most knowledgeable person in the world today regarding the Shroud. He also has been one of my closest friends since I first met him over 30 years ago.Finally, I would like to acknowledge Fred Zugibe, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner of Rockland Country in New York who is the President of ASSIST. Dr. Zugibe, Paul Maloney, and myself started ASSIST in 1983.
