[grey_whiskers]

'Cuz it's *cool*.

Seriously, look at it this way. If this were only the image of a corpse on a piece of cloth, from > 1000 years ago, there would not be the frenetic rush to "debunk" it (lest someone give undue attention or credence to Christianity). Instead, there would be gazillions of studies trying to determine the exact *mechanism* of the formation and preservation of the image. Nobody is trying to debunk mummies or the "ice man".

Cheers!

[count-your-change]

Nor would there a need to prove it was or could be a burial cloth of Jesus. Because people want to impart great powers to something connected with their beliefs they have to prove that the shroud is authentic. The reason “gazillions” of studies aren't being made is that access to the material is limited and most of us don't attach importance to relics like dead men’s bones and purported shrouds.
In fact in Deut. chapter 34:5,6 God hides Moses body lest it be used as a relic or worshiped and it was Satan according to Jude 9 that had a dispute over the body of Moses. With God's blocking anyone from knowing it's location Moses’ body would not be used in some sort of relic worship.