The Shroud of Turin, a centuries-old linen cloth that many believe was used to wrap Jesus’ body after crucifixion, is unlikely to be from Biblical times, hi-tech new research asserts.
“I think the possibility of this having happened is very remote,” said Cicero Moraes, a Brazilian graphics expert, who created a virtual simulation of the shroud to place over an image of a body to see whether impressions on the fabric were a match.
The shroud’s origin can only be traced to the mid-14th century, which has prompted some skeptics to dismiss the cloth as a medieval forgery.
“On one side are those who think it is an authentic shroud of Jesus Christ, on the other, those who think it is a forgery,” Moraes stated. “But I am inclined towards another approach: that it is, in fact, a work of Christian art, which managed to convey its intended message very successfully.”
In order to reach that conclusion, Moraes built a virtual simulation in which a recreation of the shroud was placed over a body.
When laid flat, the virtual fabric showed “a distorted and significantly more robust image” than that on the shroud, as a result of the change from 3D to 2D.
“When you wrap a 3D object with a fabric, and that object leaves a pattern like blood stains, these stains generate a more robust and more deformed structure in relation to the source,” Moraes wrote.
He explained that printing stains from a human body would be more swollen, saying that the impression left by a 3D body shows the striking difference with the shroud.