Replies

re: In the ancient production of linen on vertical hand looms, warp threads, the up and down threads on the loom, were lubricated with starch to make it easier to weave the weft threads over and under the warp threads.)))

This is also done by hand-weavers to this day. It is done to keep the warp from stretching inconsistently. Warp stretching out of tension as you weave is a headache for the weaver.

re: Washing, even with rinsing in clear water, never removes everything and small residual amounts of material remain on the cloth. )))

Linen is a fiber that releases soil (starch) very easily, and it was (is) common to boil the fabric outright. I find it surprising that starch would survive so long without just deteriorating and crumbling away--but--this could also mean that the fabric was used right off the loom... which would mean it had no other use it its life than to be a shroud, or, work of art.

I have an interest in old textiles, though not this old, of course. It would be nice to see a few threads of the shroud. Spinning wheels came into common use about the time that this garment was said to have been "faked"-- thread spun in Bible times would have certainly been spun on a hand spindle. But I read no accounts of the thread. I'd also like to know if this garment is of whole cloth, or joined together by seams. That might be significant

re: Questions: Why so only for the face (as discussed in the press) and the hands (as Fanti also discovered)?)))

If one accepts it as authentic--could it be....that there were other strips of cloth used for the body, leaving the hands and face unwrapped, to be covered by this last fine piece of cloth?

One thing that goes unremarked is how extremely valuable fabric (a good freshly-woven "fine linen" would have been worth many week's wages of a laborer) was in Bible times--linen is labor-intensive to a degree unimaginable by modern experience.

To honor the body, the final shroud would have been taken directly off the loom (pure and unused) to drape the body.

It would have been very stiff if taken directly off the loom as the starch would have been still present. We are talking about a layer of starch fractions and other impurities that is 180 to 600 nanometers thick. Experiments have been conducted with crude starch and indeed such residues remain and they do have a strong chemical bonding to the fiber. They can be forcefully removed with adhesive and reduced with diimide. There is no doubt about the residue. See this photograph.

Shroudie

One thing that goes unremarked is how extremely valuable fabric (a good freshly-woven "fine linen" would have been worth many week's wages of a laborer) was in Bible times--linen is labor-intensive to a degree unimaginable by modern experience.

I have pointed this out several times. This shroud (in fact ALL fabrics prior to machine spinning and weaving) represents many man hours of labor in growing the flax, harvesting, spinning, retting, weaving, etc., all of which was hand labor. Until the industrial revolution (and even for many years afterwards), clothing and other cloth was a substantial part of any estate. The estate's linens and clothing was a primary topic in any Last Will and Testament.

I have never seen anyone mention exactly how long it would take a skilled weaver to produce this 14 foot long cloth (three over one twill) on a vertical hand loom. Perhaps you can shed some light on this topic.

Does the handloom require that the warp threads are mounted in their entire length or is there some mechanism that allows a smaller work area, with the rest of the thread stored on some kind of spindle? I assume that each weft thread has to be combed down onto the last weft thread with a hand comb of some kind. I've seen some pictures of Indian Handlooms. Do you have any photos of a handloom similar to the kind that might have been used in 1st Century Judea?

But I read no accounts of the thread. I'd also like to know if this garment is of whole cloth, or joined together by seams. That might be significant

From my study of the Shroud, there is only one "seam" on the Shroud as originally constituted. That "seam" for years was thought to attached the "side strip" to the main body of the Shroud. In 1978 X-Ray photography proved the "seam: to be merely a "pleat" with the Shroud linen folded over and carefully basted down. It is unknown when this was done. What is known is that the Shroud is one continuous piece of cloth.

X-Radiagraph of the "seam" connecting the "sidestrip" to the Shroud.
Photo borrowed from www.shroud.com

I have read that the yarn is hand spun with a "Z" twist. According to shroudie's ShroudStory website:

More significant is the fact that the yarn was bleached before the cloth was woven. This is not how linen was produced in Europe during the time in question. There and then, the entire linen was bleached after weaving. More ancient linen was manufactured as described by Pliny the Elder: individual hanks of yarn were bleached and dried before weaving. This produced batches of thread with slightly different off-white coloration. With lighting from behind, X-ray-transmission, ultraviolet light and contrast-enhanced photography we can see discrete bands of yarn with different visual characteristics (x-ray densities and corresponding color densities). Some areas show darker warp yarns and some show darker weft yarns. In places bands of darker or lighter color cross producing plaid effect. Archeologically speaking, the cloth of the Shroud was not produced when the carbon 14 testing determined that it was.

I hope this information helps.