Turin shroud 'probably was genuine'
June 8, 2002 - source: ananova.com
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_599548.html

Experts gathering in Vienna to compare evidence on the Turin Shroud have been hearing it probably was genuine.

The congress was organised to try and decide if the shroud is a sacred relic or a medieval fraud.

They heard the latest indications are the shroud, which is said to have wrapped the body of Christ, was from that time period.

By comparing chemical and spectral analyses of the shroud, Professor Piero Savarino told delegates he had proved the image of a man in the material could not have been painted on.

He said: "The image is a result of oxidisation on the surface of the linen and the dehydration of the individual threads at a low temperature. It is a remarkable process and one that could not possibly have been recreated using medieval technology."

Swiss textile expert, Dr Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, said the weave and style of material it was made from were the same as would have come from the Dead Sea area at the time of Christ.

She said it could be clearly dated as having been woven in the period 40 years before the birth of Christ to up to 70 years after. She said: "There is no way it could have been a forgery from the 13th or 14th centuries."

Pathologist Dr Pieluigi Baima Bollone, from Turin University, said the image was identical to the way people looked at the time, as proven by Byzantine coins and illustrations from the period. He also claimed there had been traces of two coins from the time of Pontius Pilate on the shroud.

Austria's Archbishop Christoph Schoenborn said the history of the Turin shroud was something for scientists to prove.

He added: "It certainly matches in every detail that we know of the passion of Christ and therefore seems highly likely that it was indeed the burial shroud that was used after the crucifixion."

Story filed: 14:29 Friday 31st May 2002