Shroud of Turin Raw DataRelated chapters from The Urantia Book: From The Urantia Book: The Crucifixion: http://urantiabook.org/newbook/papers/p187.htm Websites Generally Related to the Shroud of Turin: http://www.shroud.com/ most extensive database about the shroud Data related to the radiocarbon dating: http://www.shroud.com/wilson.htm article on why carbon dating is off, good article, 1999 Face napkin in Spain, sometimes associated with the shroud Data related to the New Testament account: Other Raw Data Comprehensive Evaluation (2005) The following excerpts related to radiocarbon dating are take from http://www.shroud.com/history.htm, where it lists Highlights of the Undisputed History: “June 1, 1985: At a meeting in Trondheim, Norway, Dr. Tite and Richard Burleigh of the British Museum, London, release the results of an inter-comparison experiment conducted between six radiocarbon dating laboratories, some using the old proportional counter method, others the new AMS method pioneered by Dr. Harry Gove. One of the samples was a 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy wrapping for which one of the laboratories, Zurich, produced a 1000-year error due to faulty pre-treatment. Despite this gaffe, the experiment is seen as opening the way for a radiocarbon dating of the Shroud. Dr. Harry Gove sets in motion plans for a meeting of the six laboratories and the British Museum to agree on a working procedure for the Shroud dating. It is suggested that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences be contacted. “August 1985: This idea is submitted to Professor Carlos Chagas, President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Rome. “October 1985: Professor Gove meets with Professor Chagas in New York to discuss the holding of a workshop of all parties interested to radiocarbon date the Shroud. “November 1985: Professor Chagas intimates that there will soon be a meeting to discuss the dating of the Shroud. “February 1986: Professor Gove meets with Turin's Professor Gonella in New York, who insists that the proposed radiocarbon-dating workshop be held in Turin. “April 1986: Professor Chagas sends out invitations for the workshop meeting to take place in Turin on 9-11 June. Chagas has revealed this to the British journalist Peter Jennings, who publishes the story, precipitating heated feelings concerning this disclosure. “May 16, 1986: The Pontifical Academy of Sciences sends a cable, postponing meeting to discuss the carbon dating of the Shroud. “May 27, 1986: Dr. Harry Gove, with Professor Hall of Oxford and British Museum Director Sir David Wilson as co-signatories, cables Cardinals Casaroli and Ballestrero, angrily protesting the postponement and warning that several institutions may withdraw. “September 29 to October 1, 1986: Representatives of several radiocarbon dating laboratories at last meet in Turin, under Professor Chagas' chairmanship, to discuss the best 'protocol' for radiocarbon dating the Shroud. A protocol is drawn up for seven laboratories (five AMS, two small-counter) to take part, the AMS facility at Gif-sur-Yvette, France, having been added to the list. This is then submitted to both the Pope and the Cardinal of Turin. “October 6, 1986: News of the meeting is released to the world's press. “April 27, 1987: The Turin paper La Stampa publicly quotes Professor Gonella as saying that only two or three laboratories would be involved in the testing. “July 1, 1987: Representatives of the seven laboratories write a letter to Cardinal Ballestrero advising: 'As participants in the workshop who devoted considerable effort to achieve our goal we would be irresponsible if we were not to advise you that this fundamental modification in the proposed procedures may lead to failure'. “October 10, 1987: Cardinal Ballestrero of Turin writes to the seven radiocarbon laboratories informing them that on the advice of his scientific advisor Professor Gonella, it is only three of their number, the Oxford, Arizona and Zurich laboratories, who have been chosen to perform the testing. Ballestrero's letter states that ' experience in the field of archaeological radiocarbon dating' was a criterion. The cardinal also advises that certain other details of the 1986 protocol have been scrapped, including any further involvement of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the exercise. Also eliminated is the participation of Swiss textile expert Mme. Flury-Lemberg who, it had been intended, would actually physically remove the samples from the Shroud. Dr. Tite is named as the appointed supervisor for certification of the samples. “November 1987: The directors of the three chosen laboratories warn Cardinal Ballestrero: “As you are aware, there are many critics in the world who will scrutinize these measurements in great detail. The abandonment of the original protocol and the decision to proceed with only three laboratories will certainly enhance the skepticism of these critics.” The chosen three declare themselves “hesitant to proceed”, and request the matter be given “further consideration”. “January 13, 1988: The Turin newspaper La Stampa discloses that Professor Gove and Dr. Harbottle have written an open letter to the Pope, also to Nature and the director of the British Museum, deploring the rejection of the seven-laboratory protocol. They claim that the Pope has been “badly advised” and “that he is making a mistake if he approves a limited or reduced version of the research whose outcome will be, to say the least, questionable.” “January 15, 1988: In a press release Gove and Dr. Harbottle conclude, “The Archbishop's plan, disregarding the protocol, does not seem capable of producing a result that will meet the test of credibility and scientific rigor” and that “it is probably better to do nothing than to proceed with a scaled-down experiment.” “Professor Gonella declines to explain the reasons for his choice of laboratories, terming it a private matter. “January 22, 1988: Professor Gonella and leading representatives of the Oxford, Arizona and Zurich laboratories meet in the Board Room of the British Museum, London, to discuss the best procedures to be adopted. News of this meeting is released the same evening. “February 1988: Dr. Tite tries unsuccessfully to find control samples of weave identical to the Shroud. “March 25, 1988: Professor Gove writes to the Pope outlining all that has transpired and appealing to him to persuade Cardinal Ballestrero to revert to the original protocol. His letter is ignored. “April 13, 1988: (Wednesday) Professor Paul Damon holds an 'open house' for journalists at his Arizona radiocarbon dating laboratory to show them where and how the work on the Shroud samples will be done. “April 21, 1988: At 5 a.m. the Shroud is secretly taken out of its casket. At 6.30 a.m. Dr. Tite and the representatives of the three laboratories assemble at the cathedral. In the cathedral sacristy the Shroud is unrolled and shown to assembled representatives of the three chosen radiocarbon dating laboratories. Professor Testore of Turin Polytechnic, Gonella's choice as textile expert in place of Mme. Flury-Lemberg, reportedly asks 'What's that brown patch?' of the wound in the side. Professor Riggi and Professor Gonella reportedly spend two hours arguing about the exact location on the Shroud from which the sample should be taken. During the event, it is Riggi who seems in charge of the operation. “At 9.45 a.m., with a video-camera recording his every move (he will later sell copies to international media and others), he cuts a sliver from one edge and divides this into two, then divides one of these halves into three. In a separate room (the Sala Capitolare), and now unrecorded by any camera, the Cardinal and Dr. Tite place these three latter samples in sealed canisters, for the respective laboratories to take away with them. At 1 p.m. the sample taking for carbon-dating purposes is formally completed, and the laboratory representatives depart. “During the afternoon, and in the presence of some twenty witnesses, Riggi takes blood samples from the lower part of the crown-of-thorns bloodstains on the Shroud's dorsal image. According to Riggi's own subsequent account, he received the cardinal's permission to take for himself both these 'blood' samples and the portion of the Shroud he cut away but which was superfluous to the needs of the carbon-dating laboratories. These samples he will deposit in a bank vault. At 8.30 p.m. the Shroud is returned to its casket. “April 22, 1988:(Friday) The news of the taking of the samples is released to the world's press. “April 24, 1988: (Sunday) Safely arrived back in Tucson, Damon and Donahue of the Arizona laboratory informally open the samples, immediately recognizing the characteristic weave of the Shroud on opening sample A1. A photograph taken on this occasion shows this sample to have been in two parts. “April 25, 1988: (Monday) Formal opening of the Arizona samples, with Damon and Donahue now joined by Toolin and Jull. “May 6, 1988: 9.50 am. In the presence of Professor Harry Gove, who has been invited to be present, the Shroud sample is run through the Arizona system. With the calibration applied, the date arrived at is 1350 AD. “June 8, 1988: The Arizona laboratory completes its work on the Shroud. “Week of July 4, 1988: Having delayed because of technical adjustments to their radiocarbon dating unit, the Oxford laboratory begins its pre-treatment of its Shroud sample and controls. “July 22, 1988: (Friday) Dr. Michael Tite of the British Museum receives the Zurich laboratory's radiocarbon dating findings. “July 23, 1988: Shroud Meeting at the Academy of Natural Science, Philadelphia, in which Dr. Max Frei's sticky tape samples, just brought over from Europe, are formally and collectively studied by Dr. Walter McCrone, Dr. Alan Adler and others, under the auspices of the U.S. Shroud group ASSIST. This reveals that, in addition to pollens and fabric particles, the tapes bear a surprising proportion of plant parts and floral debris, suggesting that actual flowers were laid on the Shroud at some time during its history. “July 27, 1988: (Wednesday) The Oxford laboratory commences its first run of its Shroud sample and controls. • August 8, 1988: The Oxford laboratory completes its Shroud work. “August 26, 1988: The London Evening Standard carries banner headlines declaring the Shroud to be a fake made in 1350. The source, Cambridge librarian Dr. Stephen Luckett, has no known previous connection with the Shroud, or with the carbon dating work, but in this article declares scientific laboratories 'leaky institutions'. The story is picked up around the world. “September 18, 1988: Without quoting its source, The Sunday Times publishes a front-page story headlined: 'Official: The Turin Shroud is a Fake'. Professor Hall and Dr. Tite firmly deny any responsibility for this story. “October 13, 1988:(Thursday) At a press conference held in Turin, Cardinal Ballestrero, Archbishop of Turin, makes an official announcement that the results of the three laboratories performing the Carbon dating of the Shroud have determined an approximate 1325 date for the cloth. At a similar press conference held at the British Museum, London, it is announced that the Shroud dates between 1260 and 1390 AD. Newspaper headlines immediately brand the Shroud a fake and declare that the Catholic Church has accepted the results. “November 17, 1988: (Thursday) Dr. Michael Tite gives lecture to the British Society for the Turin Shroud on his radiocarbon-dating work. “February 15, 1989: (Wednesday) In a talk at the Logan Hall, Institute of Education, London, Professor Hall lectures to the British Museum Society on 'The Turin Shroud: A Lesson in Self-Persuasion'. He very forcefully declares anyone continuing to regard the Shroud as genuine a 'Flat Earther' and 'onto a loser'. “February 16, 1989: Publication, in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, of the official results of the Shroud radiocarbon dating. This has twenty-one signatories. It declares that the results 'provide conclusive evidence that the linen of the Shroud of Turin is medieval'. “March 20, 1989: (Palm Sunday) Retirement of Cardinal Ballestrero as Archbishop of Turin, to be succeeded by Giovanni Saldarini, formerly of the Milan Archdiocese. Cardinal Ballestrero temporarily remains official custodian of the Shroud. “March 24, 1989: (Good Friday) A press release to the UK press announces that forty-five businessmen and 'rich friends' have donated 1 million to create a chair of archaeological sciences at Oxford to perpetuate the radiocarbon-dating laboratory created by Professor Edward Hall. The first incumbent is to be the British Museum's Dr. Michael Tite. “April 28, 1989: Interviewed by journalists during a plane journey forming part of the papal visit to Africa, Pope John Paul II guardedly speaks of the Shroud as an authentic relic, while insisting that 'the Church has never pronounced on the matter'. “May 6-7, 1989: International Shroud Symposium 'La Sindone e Le Icone' held in Bologna. “June 4, 1989: Death of University of Arizona physicist Timothy W. Linick, one of the authors of the Nature report on the Shroud radiocarbon dating. “September 7-8, 1989: Shroud Symposium organized by the French Shroud group CIELT is held in Paris. The speakers include Professor Michael Tite. “September 30, 1989: New Scientist reports findings of the scientific workshop at East Kilbride that 'the margin of error with radiocarbon-dating ... may be two or three times as great as practitioners of the technique have claimed'. “March 9 to September 2, 1990: London's British Museum holds exhibition entitled 'Fake. The Art of Deception'. This includes a life-size transparency of the Turin Shroud. “June 10-12, 1993: Shroud Symposium, organized by CIELT, held at the Domus Mariae conference center, on the outskirts of Rome. Among the speakers are Dr. Leoncio Garza-Valdes, who suggests that 'Lichenothelia varnish, or bioplastic coating, on the Shroud may have contaminated the Shroud radiocarbon dating'. Russian Dr. Dmitri Kouznetsov is another of the speakers. “February 12, 1994: Conference on the Shroud held at the University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, at which pediatrician Dr. Leoncio Garza-Valds again conveys his findings concerning a bioplastic coating on the Shroud's fibers contaminating the radiocarbon dating. “September 2-3, 1994: Round table at the University of Texas San Antonio Health Science Center, attended by Professor Harry Gove, during which Gove views Shroud threads under the microscope and acknowledges that these certainly seem to have a substantial bioplastic coating. “January 21, 1996: The Shroud of Turin Website (http://www.shroud.com) goes online. The website is produced by Barrie Schwortz, STURP's Official Documenting Photographer during the 1978 examination. It quickly becomes the largest Shroud resource on the Internet. |
