The Shroud of Turin

Carbon-14 Dating
1988 Carbon dating results appeared to expose the Shroud as a medieval fake, but the dating was controversial

Experimental Findings:

The cloth was not wrapped entirely round the head because the right cheek was almost touching the right shoulder. This suggests that the sudarium was put into place while the body was still on the cross. The 2nd stain was made about 60mins later, when the body was taken down. The 3rd stain was made when the body was lifted from the ground about 45mins later.

The body was lying at the foot of the cross for about 45mins before being buried. The marks (not fingerprints) of the fingers that held the cloth to the nose are also visible.

The Shroud of Turin - The Oviedo Cloth

Just as important as the Shroud of Turin and intricately connected with the Shroud its surprising that the Ovideo cloth, or 'Sudarium', has had such little media coverage, and is far less well known.

The Ovideo cloth claims to be the sudarium (face-cloth) applied to Jesus after the crucifixion and covered his face whilst transporting him to his tomb. These details are known from studying blood flows on the cloth as well as studying its recorded history. Using image overlay techniques Dr Alan Whanger was able to show that the frontal stains on the Sudarium share 70 points of coincidence with the Shroud, and the rear side shows 50. Thus there is very strong evidence that they both covered the same man at the same time. Both clothes also contain blood belonging to the rare AB blood group.

Interestingly the Sudarium has a documented history much before the C-14 date for the Shroud. In a recent TV documentary Mark Guscin, the leading English speaking expert on the topic, also states that some of the blood stains on the cloth are from the body "whilst its still alive". In this same interview Guscin also reveals that by studying the folds its clear the cloth was pinned to one side and did not cover the full face in Jesus' case.

Aloe & Myrrh
Felipe Monero, an expert in working with electronic microscopes, has found residues of what is most probably myrrh and aloes on the sudarium.