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Description of the Shroud
The Shroud of Turin is a single piece of linen, about 14½ feet long by 3½ feet wide (14.4
x 1.1 meters). The weave is very fine 3-over 1-herringbone twill, approximately 350
micrometers thick, about half the thickness of common newsprint paper.
Faint, brownish, full-length frontal and backside images of a man
are visible on the cloth’s surface. Discernable wounds within the
images suggest that the man was scourged and crucified with
spikes driven through his wrists and feet. What appear to be red
bloodstains conform to the locations of visible wounds. The fact
that the bloodstains appear red has prompted much debate in past
years because blood normally turns black with age. But chemical
analysis shows that the stains are from human blood. And
chemistry also explains why the blood color remains red.
The cloth is severely burn damaged. There are several small burn
holes of unknown origin as well as large charred areas and holes
from a damaging fire in 1532. Close examination also reveals
numerous water stains, some clearly the result of dousing the fire
in 1532. Other water stains suggest that the cloth was folded and
stored in an earthen jar similar to the urns that held the Dead Sea
Scrolls.
The yarn (thread) consists of approximately 70 to 120 flax fibers hand spun together in a
Z-twist (clockwise). The numerous lengths (hanks) of yarn used in weaving are not
spliced together on the loom but overlapped side-by-side during the weaving. Variegated
patterns of whiteness in both the warp and weft yarn indicate that the yarn was bleached
before weaving rather than after the cloth was taken from the loom.
The thickness of the flax fibers varies significantly but the average is about 13
micrometers or roughly one-eighth the thickness of typical human hair.
The residue coating of starch fractions and saccharides on the outermost fibers is
consistent with an evaporation concentration. This is the sort of residue that forms when
trace amounts of these substances in rinse water are moved to the surface as water wicks
to the outside of a cloth as it dries. The saccharides in the coating are like those found in
Soapwort (saponaria officinalis). These include glucose, fucose, galactose, arabinose,
xylose, rhamnose, and glucuronic acid). This coating is about 1 percent to 4 percent of
The Shroud of Turin is a
single piece of linen
about 14½ feet long by
3½ feet wide
Burn holes and scorch
marks on the shroud
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