Chemical analysis of the lignin of the
flax fibers on the Shroud of Turin did not test positive for vanillin.
If the Shroud was medieval, it should have. Vanillin disappears slowly
from the lignin in flax fibers and all of it has disappeared.
But the carbon 14 sample vicinity was an exception. This indicated
that the cloth was much older than the carbon 14 dating sample area and
that the carbon 14 sample area was certainly chemically different.
Average Storage Equating to
Constant in Celsius
Average Storage Equating
to Constant in Fahrenheit
Age Indicated by a conservative
95% loss of Vanillin
25 °C
77 °F
1319 Years
23 °C
73 °F
1845 Years
20 °C
68 °F
3095 Years
From the article in
Thermochimica Acta: "A linen produced in
A.D. 1260 would have retained
about 37% of its vanillin in 1978. The Raes threads, the
Holland cloth [shroud's backing cloth], and all other
medieval linens gave the test for vanillin wherever lignin
could be observed on growth nodes. The disappearance of all
traces of vanillin from the lignin in the shroud indicates a
much older age than the radiocarbon laboratories reported."
