Information AgeScience & Math
Shroud of Turin carbon-dated
1988NotableContested
Three labs radiocarbon-date the Shroud of Turin to 1260 to 1390 CE, matching its first records. Supporters of its authenticity still dispute the sample.
Contested history
Consensus: In 1988 laboratories in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona radiocarbon-dated the Shroud of Turin to 1260 to 1390 CE.
The cloth is medievalEstablished
The 1989 Nature paper gave a 95 percent confidence range of 1260 to 1390, matching its first documented display around 1354.
The sample came from a medieval repairMinority view
Some argue the corner tested was a patch, but textile experts who examined it found no evidence of reweaving.
The shroud is the burial cloth of JesusUnsupported
The dating, the absence of records before the 1350s and a 1389 bishop's memo calling it a painting weigh against it.
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Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin (Damon et al., Nature, 1989) ↗Editor's pick