The Shroud Of Turin !

The shroud of Turin is reputedly the cloth in which Jesus Christ was wrapped and buried . The shroud is 4.34 meters long , and it bears the image of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Jesus Christ . The shroud is unquestionably old . Its history is known from the year 1357, when it surfaced in the tiny village of Lirey , France . Today , it is kept in a silver chest in the cathedral of St:John the baptist in Turin, Italy , where it has been since 1578 . Does the shroud really show the face of Jesus ? No one really knows . Although , many scientists expressed doubts about the accuracy of the image . millions believe it to be divine , and it has been a religious relic since the middle ages .

Understanding the nature of the Shroud of Turin's images

The Shroud is a single piece of linen cloth . The twill is a 3 over 1 herringbone weave. It is bloodstained and shows faint front and back images of a man who, by the visible wounds appears to have been crucified. He seems to be resting in in burial repose.
The bloodstains

The bloodstains on the Shroud are composed of hemoglobin and give a positive test for serum albumin. Numerous tests confirm that the blood is real human blood.

The Shroud's images are superficial and fully contained within a thin layer of starch fractions and saccharides that coats the outermost fibers of the Shroud. The coloration is a caramel-like product or the product of an amino/carbonyl reaction. Where there is no image, the carbohydrate coating is clear. There is also a very faint image of the face on the reverse side of the Shroud which lines up with the image on the front of the cloth. There is no image content between the two superficial image layers indicating that nothing soaked through to form the image on the other side.

Until recently, it was widely believed that the images on the Shroud of Turin were produced by something which resulted in oxidation, dehydration and conjugation of the structure of the fibers of the linen itself. This has been shown to be incorrect. The images are now understood to reside within a coating a coating of raw starch and various saccharides.

The images as they appear on the Shroud are said to be negative because when photographed the resulting negative is a positive image.

The Turin Shroud was examined with visible and ultraviolet spectrometry, infrared spectrometry, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, thermography, pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry, lasermicroprobe Raman analyses, and microchemical testing. No evidence for pigments (paint, dye or stains) or artist's media was found anywhere on the Shroud. Nor is any photographic emulsion found on the Shroud.