Is the shroud of Turin a brilliant medieval forgery?
This hypothesis has got more belief after the announcement of the results of the C14 investigation. If one assumes that the shroud has originated in the Middle Ages, then it can only be a forgery. It is legitimate of course to rise up such a hypothesis, nevertheless, it can only be considered true as long as it is not disproved by any known research result. Otherwise correct science would demand either dropping this hypothesis or disproof the research result.
The following results are important if a forgery is considered
Several pollens have been found on the shroud of plants which appear only in the area of Jerusalem. Pollen of Palestine plants have been the most frequent ones to be found, and not pollen of the plants which appear in France and Italy where the cloth has been at least since the 13th century continuously. A medieval forger would have to get hold of pollen from Palestine - for what reason, if they have been found only in the 20th century?
In addition there have been found images of hundreds of plant parts (flourishes, leaves, stalks, fruits etc.). The botanist Avinoam Danin of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem has examined the images more specific in 1997: „ According to Danin almost all of the 28 photographically identified botanical species on the shroud appear between Jerusalem and plants Qumran. If one expands the local position up to the south point of the dead sea, even all identified plants are to be discovered“. If it is assumed that these flowers and fruits were laid on the body during the burial, this process must have happened in the area of Jerusalem, because the botanical species are found in this ensemble only in this area.
The image has similarities with a photographic negative, which contains three-dimensional information which can be converted into a relief by means of a computer program. This quality can be reproduced correctly neither by painting nor with photograph.
There is a well documented history of the shroud before the 13th century. It played an important role already in the East-Roman Empire. The uniform painting of the face of Jesus on the icons of the east goes back to the shroud.
All forensic scientists who have examined the cloth and have made a statement unanimously say that the image on the shroud is the image of a real crucified man. In more than 100 years of shroud research no anatomical detail could be found which would not be correct, although a lot of research in this direction has been done.
Here are the most important hypotheses for forgery
Painting: the “image substance” (double bound saccharides) is only on parts of the surface of the outmost fibres. The layer is extremely thin. No image substance has penetrated into the fibres. The original fibres are unchanged, only an additional chemical layer was formed on the surface. There is no way known by which such a material can be put on fibres by a brush.
Hot bronze relief: These would make all fibres darker and change the fibres themselves. The light spectrum would be different under UV-light
The image is the first and last photograph of the outgoing Middle Ages by Leonardo da Vinci: There is no information that Leonardo has dealt with photograph or that there has already been such a thing at this time. There is no photo similar to the shroud’s image from the time before the 19th century. The shroud appeared in Europe long before Leonardo was born. Hence, this thesis is a pure speculation.
Under the shroud lay a crucified man, but it was not a Jesus, but Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Templar: indeed, something speaks for the fact that the shroud has been in the hands of the Templar and was used by them for rituals during the time between the robbery in Constantinople (1204) and the first public exhibition in France (1357). Almost all research results on top of this page speak against this thesis. This thesis is suited rather for a nice, bestseller-story, but not for a scientific hypothesis.