No to the Shroud of Jesus

The studies of a burial shroud and objects found with it from the first century ad. in a Hinnom valley tomb in 2000 have shown that the famous shroud of Turin could not have come from Jerusalem in Jesus' time. Archaeologist Shimon Gibson head of the department of archaeology at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who studied the shroud said he had found two differences between the shroud fragments found in 2000 and the shroud of Turin.

The fragments discovered in 2000 made up two cloths, one of linen used to wrap the head and another larger cloth used to wrap the body and made of wool. The fragments discovered in 2000 are in keeping with Jewish tradition and are unlike the large linen cloth known as the burial cloth of Christ.

Mr. Gibson's study has gone on to show that the Turin shroud was woven in a complicated weave pattern not known from the time of Christ in Jerusalem while the fragments found in 2000 are made up of a simple two way weave. Mr. Gibson and his co author Boaz Zissu, professor of archaeology at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University are set to publish an upcoming monograph on the subject

The shroud of Turin is kept in the cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy where it is about to be put back on display for the first time in a decade. The shroud is one of many that appeared in the middle ages and is first recorded in 1357.