Ditto. I have more on the subject. I came away with three DVD’s on the conference as well as pages of notes and the seminar brochure (nice 8x10 booklet). There is no way you can convince me it’s a MA fraud; the technical expertise and physiology were not known at that time. Plus the big give away is the nail prints are through the wrist not palms as depicted in all MA prints/paintings/icons.
The sad fact is that there are those who can't BEAR the idea of the Suffering Christ. The Shroud PERSONIFIES that horrible suffering.
One the technical point. The nail exit point is in the wrists. If you follow that toward the front of the hand, through what is termed the “Space of Destot,” a natural channel through the wrist bones, which requires no breaking of those bones, just a natural shifting, but also a natural severing of the nerve and tendon that controls the thumb, you will find that it enters right at the base of the thumb, in the center of the bottom of the palm, at the center, where there’s a natural depression, you can feel it with your opposite hand’s index finger. It’s not the center of the palm, but about an inch or so toward the wrist, but still on the palm and hand.
An experienced, skilled Crucifixionist, an expert, would know exactly where to place that nail at the base of the palm, and it would easily support all of the body’s weight, not matter how much struggling the victim put on it. The nail could easily be driven through that space and into the wood of the cross. One distinctive result would be that the thumb, having its nerve and tendon cut or damaged, would pull into toward the palm and be paralyzed, which is exactly what we see, (or rather do not see), as both thumbs are hidden behind the body of the hands of the Man on the Shroud, cramped inward, instead of being relaxed in death.