Estimates of the height of the man vary widely. One might think it would be
easy to measure but it is not. The primary problem is that no one knows how
the body was positioned or how the cloth was draped, if indeed the cloth holds an image
from a body. (In reality, this holds true for a photograph or for an artist's
interpretation).
Most estimates put the height of the man whose image is portrayed on the
shroud, assuming that the image is not a photograph or a painting, at about
6 feet. (See table to the right).
Isabel Piczek with expertise in figurative arts and human anatomy wrote:
I have approached the question of height from the design point of view - an
image which describes a 3D object and vice-versa, including the problem of
foreshortening. I have also analyzed body type, muscle structure and
proportion. I determined the height to be 5'11½" to 6'1", give or take 1"
for linen stretch and shrinking, both of which are possible. Because of the
body type, even with shrinkage, the man cannot be under 5'11½". I lean more
towards 6'0". Whether Jews in Jesus's time were smaller or larger is not
relevant here. Jews were not small to start with, judging by the finds in
the 1st century cemetery excavated near the wall of the Temple in the
sixties
The study "Computerized
anthropometric analysis
of the Man of the Turin Shroud" by Giulio Fanti, Emanuela Marinelli
and Alessandro Cagnazzo is perhaps the
most comprehensive and statistically correct analysis.
Isabel Piczek,
artist specializing in human anatomy.
5'11½"
- 6'1"
Fanti, Marinelli, Cagnazzo (tibio-femoral
indices calculations)
5'8" - 5'9"
Luigi Gedda (sagittal plane of face applied to
anthropometric ratio)
6'0"
* Picknett and
Prince (simple assumed face ratio)
6'8"
- 6'10"
Picknett and
Prince (corrected for logical fallacy)
5'9" - 6'1"
* estimates by
Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince in their book, Turin Shroud - In Whose
Image, are generally considered absurd and founded on illogical
conclusions.
