TEXAS MEDIEVAL ASSOCIATION
San Antonio, Texas. September 11, 1993
SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF THE SHROUD OF TURIN
Leoncio A. Garza-Valdes M.D.
ABSTRACT

The Shroud of Turin is an archaeological textile believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. It measures 4.36 X 1.10 m, the material is linen with a three-to-one herringbone twill weave. It depicts the frontal and dorsal images of a man. It has multiple water stains and possibly several blood stains. The Image has a straw-yellow color. In 1988, radiocarbon measurements were done by laboratories in the Universities of Arizona, Oxford, and Zurich. The sample used was a 10 mm X 70 mm strip removed from the Shroud's bottom left corner. The laboratories reported a calibrated calendar age of the linen of AD 1260-1390. My research indicates that the true age of the Shroud linen is much earlier.

The patina analyses ln six pre-Columbian artifacts is used for comparison with the findings on the Shroud of Turin. The artifacts studied are: (l) Maya chert drill from Guaytan, Guatemala, (2) clay bowl from Apatzingan, Michoacan, (3) ancient carved bone used as a bloodletter from Apatzingan, Michoacan, (4) emerald green jasper pectoral known as the Ahaw Pectoral from the Lower Motagua Valley, Guatemala, (5) albitite Maya celt known as the Itzamna Tun from the Motagua Valley, Guatemala, and (6) Sinu gold shaman from Colombia.

The surface deposits on the seven artifacts were studied with the following analytical methods: (l) AMS-radiocarbon dating, (2) backscattered electron microscopy, (3) energy dispersive spectrometry, (4) fungi and bacteria culture media, (5) gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, (6) Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy, (7) optical microscopy, (8) scanning electron microscopy, (9) solid probe/mass spectrometry, (10) ultraviolet light (254 and 366 NM), (11) wavelength dispersive spectroscopy, and (12) wet chemistry.

The analysis of the pre-Columbian artifacts and of a "blood glob" and textile segments of the Shroud of Turin, showed Lichenothelia fungi, pink pigment producing bacteria, and Lichenothelia Varnish, deposited on the surface of the seven pieces. Lichenothelia Varnish is a natural deposit on ancient stable surfaces produced by a symbiotic association between Lichenothelia (a five micrometers spheric fungus classified ln the Loculoascomycetes) and Rhodococcus (an aerobic, gram positive, pink pigment producing bacteria, that has nitrilase and nitrile hydratase enzymatic activity with production of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, and acrylamide). The Lichenothelia form micro-colonies from 150 to 200 micrometers, it exudes a yellowish gel that by symbiotic association with the Rhodococcus produce, after long periods of time, a varnish composed of calcium carbonate, Rhodococcus products, Lichenothelia remnants, kaolin-montmorillonite, silica, and manganese and/or iron compounds. It takes hundreds of years of Lichenothelia and Rhodococcus activity to have a continuous coating on a stable surface. Fungi and bacteria cultures done on samples taken from the Shroud of Turin grew the Lichenothelia and Rhodococcus, indicating that the fungi and the bacteria are still alive.

My conclusions in these studies are: (l) the radiocarbon dates obtained in 1988 from the Shroud of Turin samples by the laboratories of the Universities of Arizona, Oxford, and Zurich, are a result of averaging of radiocarbon from the cellulose of the Shroud linen and radiocarbon from the Lichenothelia, Rhodococcus, and varnish deposited on the linen fibers, and (2) the image on the Shroud of Turin was formed by differential depositional thicknesses of Lichenothelia varnish directly related to the blood, sweat, and other deposits on the linen. In other words, the image was not made by human hands (ACHIROPOIETOS).

Return to the HSG home page