[Junior]

You cannot DNA test a piece of cloth, other than to tell what it's made of. It would have nothing to do with dating. You appear to be mixing apples and oranges. You might want to do a little web research before continuing along your lines of reasoning.

[Sentis]

In fact you could technically DNA test a piece of cloth which was made of a certain plant fiber. It may be difficult to find intact DNA strands in such cloth but this type of DNA test could be put to all sorts of uses. I wonder what plant fiber the cloth is made from. As an example cotton was unknown in Europe until the 14th century. If the shroud is made of cotton then it would be of middle eastern, east asian origin. If it is made of linen then it is most likely made in Europe. Hmm what is the shroud made of?

[Sentis]

I just looked it up the shroud is made of Linen. Now linen may have been available in the middle east during the time of christ but I'm not certain. Anyone know? Also if we were to DNA test the linen fiber we could determine if it was a European or Middle Eastern Linen. This would put an end to the debate for all time. I am pretty certain this type of test has not been done.

[Sentis]

In fact we may be able to determine a rough time-line for the Shroud if we compared DNA from the shroud with DNA procured from linen samples in different time periods. Some genetic drift would have occurred over time and we could probably use that as a round about dating method if we can determine the date of linen from other samples. Foe instance if we found a sample of Linen in a 13th century grave and compared the two and the DNA matched then we would know that the shroud was 13th century. In fact this method could have all sorts of use. I need to write a paper. It's so much fun being an Archaeologist.. Thank you creationists you may have just helped me develop a method for dating cloth that is not found in situ.

[TheCrusader]

"You cannot DNA test a piece of cloth, other than to tell what it's made of. It would have nothing to do with dating".

On the contrary, DNA testing of the cloth can have everything to do with dating it. For example, the DNA test for blood on the Shroud has shown that the victim was male, and most probably of Jewish extraction, and indicated that the blood sample was ancient. (The atheist, pseudo-scientists who examined the Shroud in 1988 concluded the Shroud was circa 1300 A.D, and the crucified man's image was that of a Crusader. But the Crusaders were mostly of French/Gaul ancestry, certainly none of them Jewish). Also, microscopic pollen analysis show that the spores on the Shroud came from plants only common to Jerusalem. While none of these tests can absolutely date the Shroud, they sure have ripped the 1988 athiest-scientist's conclusions to shreds. Pax Christi, Jim