Barrett, Jim on Carbon 14 Dating: Shroud of Turin Terms

Jim Barrett in Microbiology meets archaeology in a renewed quest for answers

After months examining microscopic samples, the team [Leoncio A. Garza-Valdes, MD, adjunct professor of microbiology, and Stephen J. Mattingly, PhD, professor of microbiology] concluded in January [1996] that the Shroud of Turin is centuries older than its carbon date. Dr. Garza said the shroud's fibers are coated with bacteria and fungi that have grown for centuries. Carbon dating, he said, had sampled the contaminants as well as the fibers' cellulose.

In May 1993, Dr. Garza traveled to Turin, and examined a shroud sample with the approval of Catholic authorities. 'As soon as I looked at a segment in the microscope, I knew it was heavily contaminated,' Dr. Garza said. 'I knew that what had been radiocarbon dated was a mixture of linen and the bacteria and fungi and bioplastic coating that had grown on the fibers for centuries. We had not dated the linen itself.

	What is the Shroud of Turin? The Shroud Described.
	How the images might have formed. Images on the Shroud of Turin.
	Hints from Edessa, 544 AD. Early Shroud of Turin History.
	How a medieval artisan caused Carbon 14 Dating Errors.
	Startling, Mysterious, Unexplained. The 3D Encoding of the Shroud.
	The Variegated Cloth. Fooled by the Shroud's Background Noise.
	The Art Connection. Christ Pantocrator and the Shroud of Turin.
	Was the Shroud of Turin Described? Voices from the Past
	Medical Perspective: Forensic Pathology of the Images
	The Second Face: From the Back of the Cloth
	Some say . . . Painted, Leonardo da Vinci, Jacques deMolay, Coins, etc.