What bothers me is that the carbon-dating, “medieval fake” crowd can do pretty good until you ask them to explain how it was made if it’s a fake. I have yet to see anyone explain that. I did see one bozo come up with a pretty good theory one time on “educational” TV. He took a bronze bust into a Domino’s Pizza place, put a cloth over the bust and baked it in a pizza oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. It was pretty hilarious. I can’t say it was a perfect replica of the shroud as he was claiming but the cameraman said it sure did smell good.
The carbon 14 test were discredited based on the sampling methods and the issue of bioplastic. Since the Shroud was damaged in a fire and subjected to recent carbon 14 contamination in the Middle Ages from that fire, a false recent date would be expected anyway.
And of course, they didn't have Pizza ovens in the 1300’s.
The Shroud, when folded for storage, presents the face of the image forwards. The individual who originally brought the Shroud to the attention of the Medieval World was Geoffrey De Charney. He was related to an officer of the Knights Templar who was martyred under Philip the Fair. One of the charges against the Templars by Philip was they worshipped the image of a face. And the Templars of course were involved in the Holy Land going back to the 1100’s as well as in the capture of Constantinople. The Byzantine Emperors were pretty active collectors of religious relics - fraudulent and genuine.
ALL of this creates very compelling circumstantial evidence regarding the authenticity of the Shroud.
The experimenter was succeeding in converting the natural starches and sugars in the material of his cloth to a melanoidin... caramel. It smells sweet.