The original C-14 test has been invalidated in three separate peer-reviewed scientific journal articles in which it was shown that bad sample taking and breaking of protocols resulted in a good test being made of a PATCHED AREA of the shroud that was not homogenous with the main body of the Shroud. Chemical, microscopic, and physical test have proved that what was tested was contaminated with Cotton fibers. . . significantly so. The main body of the Shroud is pure Flax Linen with no Cotton. Photo micrographs of the tested samples showed they included rewoven and spun in Cotton threads. This was a known technique used in the sixteenth century to repair tapestries. Chemical testing of surviving threads from the samples show they were dyed to match the main body color, were filleted by a totally different method than the main body Linen, and contained other chemicals inconsistent with the rest of the Shroud. Another scientist, working with another surviving thread found it came apart into two pieces, one linen consistent with the Shroud's threads, and the other end dyed French cotton with an opposite twist! This technique is called "French Invisible Reweaving" and required great skill and was reserved for only the most important cloths. The Shroud in the sixteenth century would certainly qualify. In any case, as of 2005, the 1988 C-14 test is invalidated.
The inventor of the C-14 test used on the Shroud, Harry Gove, when presented with these findings, and the varying percentages of old to new material intermixed in the samples did some calculations to estimate the age of the original material. The cotton varied from between 40-60% mixed with the linen. His calculation estimated the age of the linen at FIRST CENTURY plus or minus 100 years. . . If the contaminating cotton was 16th century.
It’s really easily sorted, isn’t it? Simply conduct another test, with a sample taken from a non-patched area.