Group claims cloth is fake
Shroud of Turin may have image of Christ embedded

By The Associated Press Comments 1
Published: October 6, 2009

ROME — Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin — revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb — and say the experiment proves the relic was man-made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday.

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The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ’s image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.

Scientists have reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal said.

In 1988, scientists used radiocarbon dating to determine it was made in the 13th or 14th century.

Many still believe that the shroud "has unexplainable characteristics that cannot be reproduced by human means,” lead scientist Luigi Garlaschelli said in the statement. "The result obtained clearly indicates that this could be done with the use of inexpensive materials and with a quite simple procedure.”

How it was created

Garlaschelli, a professor of chemistry at the University of Pavia, said in an interview with La Repubblica daily that his team used a linen woven with the same technique as the shroud and artificially aged by heating it in an oven and washing it with water.

The cloth was then placed on a student, who wore a mask to reproduce the face, and rubbed with red ochre, a well known pigment at the time. The entire process took a week, Repubblica said.

The shroud is first recorded in history around 1360.

Owned by the Vatican, it is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin’s cathedral and is rarely shown.

The last public display was in 2000, when more than 1 million people turned up to see it, and the next is scheduled for 2010.