New Paper Finds Something Very Weird About the Shroud of Turin

The mysterious Shroud of Turin, which is believed by many Christians to have laid atop Jesus Christ's body after his crucifixion, may be even stranger than we previously thought.

In a new study published in the journal Archaeometry, Brazilian 3D designer Cicero Moraes lends credence to the theory that the shroud was a work of art rather than a genuine death shroud — and per the new paper, it may not have laid atop a human at all.

Using three types of 3D modeling tools — MakeHuman, Blender, and CloudCompare — Moraes found that the contours of any "body" that would have imprinted upon the shroud is very unlikely to have been human. Instead, he believes, more likely it would have belonged to a statue.

Comparing models of a "low-relief" statue versus an actual human body in those programs, the 3D designer found that his modeling of the statue with a cloth laid over it produced an outline that appeared much more like the shroud we know today, a statement about the new research explains. The modeling from a "3D body," as Moraes calls it, resulted in a "significantly distorted image."

If Moraes' findings hold up, they'll add to a lengthy recent canon of academic in-fighting about the origins of the shroud, which is still considered by some Catholics  and researchers to be authentic — which is to say, they believe it was the death shroud of Christ himself.

Over the past 35 years, researchers have clashed over the age of the Shroud of Turin after a 1989 radiocarbon dating test found that small pieces from the ancient cloth appear to be from the 14th century CE, long after Jesus died. After American chemist Raymond Rogers suggested in 2005 that the piece of the shroud taken for the 1989 tests may have been patched on centuries after its initial creation, scientists finally put that theory to the test in 2022. That year, Italian researchers found, using an X-ray dating method, that a single strand from the shroud was actually from the first century CE — much closer to Christ's era than the 14th.

With no real way to definitively disprove that the shroud covered Christ, other scientists, including Moraes, have suggested that it may have been created as a piece of art meant to represent Jesus. In 2018, for example, researchers from Italy and the United Kingdom posited that the "blood" patterns on the face of the shroud appeared to be "totally unrealistic" for a man lying flat on his back, suggesting they were added after the cloth was created for artistic effect.

Unlike some of his peers, Moraes is offering no theories about the date of the shroud. Instead, he approaches the mysteries it presents with academic reverence and excitement.

"This work not only offers another perspective on the origin of the Shroud of Turin's image," the 3D modeler said in his statement, "but also highlights the potential of digital technologies to address or unravel historical mysteries, intertwining science, art, and technology in a collaborative and reflective search for answers."

More on religious mysteries: The Catholic Church Reportedly Called in an Exorcist to Deal With "Yeti Cult" Running Bizarre Blood Rituals at Archdiocese of Denver