One interesting sideline to these investigations is that it has been discovered that NO ANCIENT LINEN carbon tests accurately! I.E. Carbon dating of linen wrappings of mummies has consistently dated 1000 to 2000 years YOUNGER than the carbon dates of the mummies themselves or of the caskets containing the mummies!
jlogajan said in another post (regarding carbon dating):
You're playing Barry Sheck from the O.J. Simpson trial, and you call the media stupid for not buying your "conspiracy and contamination" defense?
I spoke to one of the original members of the Research team from the 1978 research. He had the following to say about the C-14 dating:
(1) Chemicals were used to clean the cloth tested (from one of the corners of the Shroud).
(2) The original protocol was changed because there was only one piece of the Shroud given for this destructive type of testing.
(3) Various tests (flourescent light tests) showed this part of the Shroud to be of "different material". He noticed this difference personally.
(4) It was the opinion of this person that since this was a corner that was used for holding the Shroud for viewing over many centuries, it needed to be repaired.
There have been studies to come back and say that the C-14 testing probably was very flawed.
The fire damage and the exposure to candles would have been compensated for by the use of chemicals to clean the fabric. However, it is unclear if the chemicals themselves might not have "contaminated" the C-14 dating by leaving residue that might have been part of the C-14 dating.
This member of the research team said that the chemicals used for the cleaning were not disclosed.
He had called me, as I had ordered some of the research material, and it was he that would not let me off the phone, and was very interesting to talk to. (He was a Jewish member of the team.)
God does work in strange ways.
Barrie announced the new research at the shroud symposium in Stockton, CA, last month.