[aShepard]

That's the rebuttal of the radiocarbon dating? "I don't see how this could have been done, therefore it must have been magic, therefore the radiocarbon dating can simply be disregarded

I've often wondered that since the shroud was involved in a fire in the 1500's, that resulted in burning portions of the cloth, whether the carbon based smoke from the building materials involved in the fire could have permeanated the shroud with a few hundred year old wood carbon tracings, thus masking the true date of the underlying cloth.

If, as this article states, spoonfuls of soot were removed from the surface, my thoughts may have some validity.

[lepton]

Radiocarbon dating is not interested in the total amount of carbon, but rather the relative quantities of carbon isotopes. If the shroud was burnt, and its carbon impregnated into other portions of the shroud, that is not likely to make a significant difference in the test results...however if other cloth or wood was burnt with it, or the water was fetid or otherwise contaminated, that introduction of "new" carbon would affect the tests.

[Swordmaker]

I've often wondered that since the shroud was involved in a fire in the 1500's, that resulted in burning portions of the cloth, whether the carbon based smoke from the building materials involved in the fire could have permeanated the shroud with a few hundred year old wood carbon tracings, thus masking the true date of the underlying cloth.

If, as this article states, spoonfuls of soot were removed from the surface, my thoughts may have some validity.

The protocols agreed on by the laboratories involved in the Carbon-14 tests included cleaning the samples by a method that should have removed the soot. It would not have touched the bioplastic residue adhered to the fibers by generations and centuries of micro-organisms.