Radiocarbon Dating of the Turin Shroud: New Evidence from Raw Data
Open accessAbstract
In 1988, three laboratories performed a radiocarbon analysis of the Turin Shroud. The results, which were centralized by the British Museum and published in Nature in 1989, provided ‘conclusive evidence’ of the medieval origin of the artefact. However, the raw data were never released by the institutions. In 2017, in response to a legal request, all raw data kept by the British Museum were made accessible. A statistical analysis of the Nature article and the raw data strongly suggests that homogeneity is lacking in the data and that the procedure should be reconsidered.
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Casabianca et al. (2019) concluded from newly available raw data that the Shroud data from the three laboratories are heterogeneous.
“Casabianca et al. (2019) reach a similar conclusion from their study of the newly available raw data, namely, that the Shroud data from the three laboratories are heterogeneous.”
From An instructive inter-laboratory comparison: The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin (2020) · cites this paper as Casabianca et al. (2019)
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Cites
Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin
Damon, P. E., Donahue, D. J., Gore, B. H., Hatheway, A. L., Jull, A. J. T., Linick, T. W., Sercel, P. J., Toolin, L. J., Bronk, C. R., Hall, E. T., et al. (1989) · Nature · doi:10.1038/337611a0 · Cited by 239 · cited 5× · see citing works
“In their Nature article, Damon et al. (1989) stated that there was ‘conclusive evidence’ that the linen of the TS was medieval (AD 1260–1390 with at least 95% confidence).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialInvestigating a Dated Piece of the Shroud of Turin
Freer-Waters, R. A., & Timothy Jull, A. J. (2010) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.1017/s0033822200056277 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
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Research works printed but not linked: 4
- News Network], 1988, Rogue fibres found in the Shroud, Textile Horizons, 8(12), 13, available at http://www.sindone.info/TEXTILE.PDF.
- Fanti, G., and Malfi, P., 2014, Multi-parametric micro-mechanical dating of single-fibers coming from ancient flax tex- tiles, Textile Research Journal, 84, 714-27.
- Van Haelst, R., 2002, Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin: a critical review of the nature report (authored by Damon et al.) with a complete unbiased statistical analysis, available at http://www.sindone.info/VHAELST6.PDF
- Wilson, I., 1995, From a forgotten memorandum: A visit to the Oxford Research Laboratory 7 July 1988, British Society for the Turin Shroud Newsletter, 41, 15-8, available at https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/n41part4.pdf.
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An instructive inter-laboratory comparison: The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin
Walsh, B., & Schwalbe, L. (2020) · Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102015 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Casabianca, T., Marinelli, E., Pernagallo, G., & Torrisi, B.
- Affiliations
- Ajaccio 20000 France
- Collegamento pro Sindone Rome Italy
- University of Catania (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Casabianca, T.
- Venue
- Archaeometry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-03-22
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1223-1231
- ISSN
- 0003-813X (ISSN-L)
- 1475-4754
- OpenAlex
- W2922781333
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 4.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- philarchive.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Archaeometry (publishedVersion)
- PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Institutional Research Information System University of Turin (University of Turin) (submittedVersion)
- PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Tree-ring climate responses
- Keywords
- Shroud of Turin, radiocarbon dating, data homogeneity, British Museum, medieval origins
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