Christ's burial cloth shows signs of the crucifixion and resurrection:

Characteristics of the image on the Shroud of Turin:

Chrysanthemum coronarium sketch, on shroud and as a kirlian image.

Plant images found on the shroud include: Chrysanthemum cf. coronarium L., Pistacia atlantica Desf., Pistacia lentiscus L., Zygophyllum dumosum Boiss, Capparis aegyptia, Cistus creticus and Gundelia tournefortii L (the crown of thorns). Pollens also identify dozens of flowers in the middle east blooming in March or April.

Zygophyllum dumosum Boiss and a pollen grain from the shroud.

The Sudarium of Oviedo, the burial face cloth documented from the 1st Century and kept in the Cathedral of Oviedo in Spain since the 8th Century, carries pollen from the crown of thorns as well as the same pattern of Type AB blood stains as the shroud.

The wounds of the crown of thorns on the Shroud of Turin (a) and the Sudarium of Oviedo (b).

The shroud image also has these characteristics: 1

Superficiality: Although the areas of the stigmata are formed by type AB human blood based on photomicrography and an absorption spectrum of denatured met-haemoglobin, 2 the negative image itself is a pure sepia monochrome discoloration of the surface fibers of the linen threads of the fabric. This image is not visible on the underside of the Shroud. In addition, the image is not visible at close range, as it 'melts away like mist'. 3

Detail: The Shroud's negative image, when transformed to a positive by photography, is richly detailed, which has allowed medical experts to claim that they are able to detect the presence of such details as rigor mortis, contusion wounds, excoriations and a variety of facial wounds. 4 It should also be considered that without the medium of modern photography it is uncertain if anyone living before circa 1898 when Secondo Pia made his historic photographic negatives of the Shroud could have seen these details. Another way to see the positive image on the Shroud of Turin is by staring at a single point on its negative image for a minute and then observing the after-image by looking at a blank surface.

Thermal stability: The Shroud's image survived the intense heat of a fire which nearly destroyed it in 1532.

Lack of any pigment: It is quite certain that no pigment, dye or stain was used. The discoloration forming the image is only in the topmost crown fibrils of the cloth’s thread with no image beneath any cross threads, and no pattern of capillarity, ruling out the possibility of any liquid chemicals being the cause.

Three-dimensionality: The intensity of the image varies according to the distance of the body from the cloth, strongly suggesting that the body did not in fact come into direct contact with the Shroud. The mathematical ratio is so precise that Jackson and Jumper were able to create a three-dimensional replica from the image of the Shroud taken in 1931 by G. Enrie using a VP-8 Image Analyzer.

Negative: The image is a negative which appears as a visually coherent positive photograph with the reversal of the tonal polarity.

Directionless: The process that formed the image was non-directional. An image applied by hand, such as a painting, shows strong directionality, such as brush strokes. The projective information of the image is collimated and anisotropic with no side images. The data points, being the density of discolored fibrils at places on the images can be plotted to produce a realistic isometric 3-D image of a human form from different angles. No known painting or other work of art or photograph of a human form produces these effects. Physicists have hypothesized that this could be caused by the dematerialization of a body. This could be related to the radiant energy seen with the dematerialization of certain m-state (spirit-body) minerals.

Chemical stability: The straw-yellow discolouration composing the Shroud image cannot be dissolved, bleached, or changed by standard chemical agents. It has the qualities of an angelic image.

Water stability: The Shroud was doused with water in putting out the fire of 1532. Although this caused a water stain, the image itself is not affected.

Radiocarbon-Dating: The piece of the Shroud removed for carbon dating was of a different shape than the piece of cloth actually tested. After the scientists cut the sample they went into a different room and came back with the cloth that was actually tested. The oldest radiocarbon date reported was 1260, the number of days in the reign of the Anti-Christ.

the Fraud

The reports by Riggi and Testore give to the nearest milligram the weights of the samples taken from the Shroud by the scientists claiming to try to establish an accurate radiocarbon date. How accurate is the work of these scientists?

Report	Dimensions	Mass	Area	Samples	Mass
Original film		478.1 mg
Riggi Report no 1, of 26 April 1988 (Rapporto Sindone, page 166)	7 cm by 1 cm not from the border	161 mg	8 cm^2 reduced to 7 cm^2 to remove threads of another nature	3 (about 50 mg each)	23 mg /cm^2
Lyon-Matin 8 May 1988, G. Vial	"it was agreed that a strip 8 cm long and 1.5 cm wide" from the border		12 cm^2
Paris-Match for 29 July 1988 (p. 14), J. Évin	Vial and Testore "cut three small strips of cloth, each piece measuring about one by seven centimetres"		21 cm^2
Hall interview by John Cornwell in The Tablet, 14 January 1989	"the sample was not taken from a border. And, of course, we would have been mad to take it from there. We took it from a part of the Shroud well inside"
official report published by Nature, 16 February 1989 (p. 612)	10 mm by 70 mm		7 cm^2	divided into three parts
Testore Report no 1, of 7 September 1989 (Acts of the Paris Symposium, p. 52 and 68)	81 mm (warp) by 16 mm (weft)	300.0 mg (twice that needed: 3 samples of 40 mg each were planned)	12.96 cm^2	divided in 5 pieces: first divided in two: 154.9 mg & 144.8 mg, with a loss of 0.3 mg; 154.9 mg piece then divided into three: 52.0 mg, 52.8 mg, & 53.7 mg (which actually adds up to 158.5 mg, for a gain of 3.6 mg)
Riggi Report no 2, of September 1989 (Acts of the Paris Symposium, p. 39 and 41) [changes his earlier data]	8.1 cm by 1.6 cm; 46% trimmed off to 7 cm by 1 cm (official report in Nature makes no mention of trimming)	540 mg (text, p. 39) or 497 mg (drawing, p. 41); 300 mg (trimmed); should be 298 mg (based on specific mass); trimmed should be 161 mg	12.96 cm^2 trimmed to 7 cm^2	300 mg piece (note: should be 161 mg) divided into two of 150 mg (text) (note: should be 80.5 mg) or 141 mg (drawing) & 159 mg (calculation) divided into three of 53 mg each (note: should be 27 mg)
Tucson laboratory report			2 cm^2 (which is about 1/6 of 12.96 cm^2 or about 1/3 of 7 cm^2)
Riggi at a conference at the Rosetum in Milan on 28 November 1989		claims he still has a 141 mg piece
Testore’s version no 2, rectification of the 28 October 1989 (Acts of the Paris Symposium, p. 54 and 69)		144.8 mg divided: 52.0 mg, 52.8 mg, and 39.6 mg (not 53.7) plus14.1 mg taken from the 154.9 mg piece (39.6 + 14.1 mg = 53.7) (50 mg samples needed and not taken from the 154.9 mg piece, except for 14.1 mg)
Riggi’s version no. 3 (Petrosillo, p. 129)		154.9 mg divided: 52.0 mg, 52.8 mg, and 50.1 mg. To 50.1 mg added 3.6 mg from the 144.8 mg piece: 50.1 + 3.6 = 53.7. (why add to a 50.1 mg piece when 40 mg is needed?)
Bonnet-Eymard, vol. II, p. 140-150	Two different and incompatible pieces of cloth seem to be involved. A piece of authentic cloth from the Shroud measuring 8.1 cm by 1 cm was removed in public, seen, and lost since 21 April. These dimensions come from Testore’s report and are confirmed by Vial. #2: A 7 cm x 1 cm strip from another cloth, from which samples were extracted for the laboratories. Everyone has heard about this strip, but no one has seen it. Its dimensions are those of Riggi’s first report and of Tite’s account in Nature		8.1 cm^2

The proof of the substitution lies in:

• The request for a double of the sample which could take the place of the authentic sample. This attempt failed for the piece taken from Saint Louis d’Anjou’s cope. The same request was made of Ian Wilson. There may have been a second double of the sample.
• The changes in the various reports by Riggi and Testore.
• The observation in the official report that the sample reveals no contamination, which is not possible unless the sample comes from another cloth.
• A photograph (published by B. Bonnet-Eymard, vol. II, p. 150) of a part of the sample was delivered to the Tucson laboratory, at 11 times linear enlargement (121 times by area). The sample is abnormally clean, considering that it was photographed before the cleaning process. The weave is the same as that of the Shroud, but it is much lighter in color.

Footnotes:

1 Stevenson and Habermas (1981).

2 Pellicori (1980:1916).

3 Wilson (1978:9).

4 Barbet (1950:23-45).