Radiocarbon Dating of the Turin Shroud: New Evidence from Raw Data

Abstract

In 1988, three laboratories performed a radiocarbon analysis of the Turin Shroud. The results, which were centralized by the British Museum and published in Nature in 1989, provided ‘conclusive evidence’ of the medieval origin of the artefact. However, the raw data were never released by the institutions. In 2017, in response to a legal request, all raw data kept by the British Museum were made accessible. A statistical analysis of the Nature article and the raw data strongly suggests that homogeneity is lacking in the data and that the procedure should be reconsidered.

On Cleaning Methods and the Raw Radiocarbon Data from the Shroud of Turin

“…Casabianca and coworkers [5] initiated the latest interest in Shroud studies. As stated above, the protocol adopted for the radiocarbon program had the investigating laboratories submit their individual results -their "raw" data -separately to the British Museum for analysis and compilation.…”

“…These two modified data align closely with the lower pair of Arizona results and together become the focus of the present study. Until the later report [5], no details of the Museum's involvement were available, only the statistical analyses that Walsh and Schwalbe [6] challenge, but certainly nothing further about how and why changes in any of the data came about.…”

“…In response to a freedom-of-information request in 2017, all of the raw data held by the Museum were released and published [5]. In addition to making this information generally available, these researchers analyzed the raw data and conclude that the results from the three laboratories are statistically heterogeneous, a condition that according to standard analytical procedure [7] precludes these dates from being combined to produce an accurate and unbiased average, or for that matter analyzed as a composite set in a program that applies a calibration curve to convert radiocarbon years to calendar years.…”

Statistical and Proactive Analysis of an Inter-Laboratory Comparison: The Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin

“…The next important step in understanding the reliability of the Shroud’s radiocarbon dating occurred in 2017 when a legal request based on the Freedom of Information Act in the United Kingdom compelled the British Museum to release the raw data of the radiocarbon dating of the Shroud. The raw data were analyzed and, according to the final report [ 33 ], the results do not validate the 95% confidence level claimed in [ 8 ], as the data contain “ serious incongruities ”. Interestingly, the overall analysis of the raw data confirms the main results in [ 29 ].…”

“…According to [ 33 ], homogeneity is lacking in the data and the analyses show the necessity of further radiocarbon dating to compute a new reliable interval. This new test requires, in interdisciplinary research, a robust protocol.…”