Ten years ago the remains of a leprous man, still shrouded in a burial cloth, was discovered in Jerusalem by archaeologists. The burial shroud may provide a “control sample” for the Shroud of Turin. Read about it here.
New (Old) Evidence Against the Turin Shroud?
As the article says, this assumes that the burial cloth of Jesus would have been the same weave as this one.
From what I’ve read about the Shroud of Turin it has some pretty bizarre properties. However what I’m more inclined to think disproves its authenticity is the Biblical text itself. Since isn’t the cloth meant to be in two pieces? One for the head and one for the body. The Shroud of Turin is a single piece.
@Derek: point well taken about the biblical description. That said, the promoters of the Shroud will simply say the image was still superimposed on the “outer” cloth (the Shroud). There are artistic renderings (medieval, Renaissance – and so QUITE late and therefore unreliable) that show Jesus being covered with a single-piece shroud. And that means the renderings present us with a “chicken or egg” question – which came first?
Mike: Weren’t there two cloths at the time of the burial? Isn’t the cloth known as the sudarium of Oviedo reputed to be the head cloth and Shroud the burial cloth? So, if authentic, don’t we have two cloths?
there may be two, but if there is a separate head covering, how would the facial image go through one and not the other?