That image on the shroud doesn't look too marred to me. If it was truly the image of Jesus, then you shouldn't be able to recognize it as human.
Bingo!..........
I think the Shroud is kind of cool, in a weird way.
But, these things bother me:
I thought first-century Jews were interred after the mourners wrapped the body in mummy-like strips and coated or even piled it high with spices. And also, the Gospels talk about a separate head cloth.
Finally, I think the figure in the Shroud looks just too Anglo — tall and lanky — to be Mediterranean.
you mean other than the swollen cheek bone, the broken nose (forensic findings), the back scourging, the nail wounds in the wrists - which is correct on two counts: at the time, the wrist was also considered part of the hand and so called - and the physical fact that if the nails has been in the palms, the weight of the body would have ripped through...
Then there's the long braid down the back, something I have never seen anyone yet address.
There is good evidence that Jesus belonged to the Nazorite Priesthood - This is not the same as Nazorean, native of Nazareth. Numbers 6:5 regarding the Nazorite vows - "there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow."
They wore their long hair in a braid down their back.