Why the Shroud of Turin is Likely Older Than the Middle Ages
If you follow biblical archaeology, you probably know about the famous 1988 radiocarbon test. That test dated the Shroud of Turin to the Middle Ages (somewhere between 1260 and 1390 AD), causing many to write it off as a brilliant medieval forgery. But history is rarely that simple. In 2005, a chemist named Raymond Rogers,a lead researcher from the original 1978 STURP team,published a peer-reviewed study that turned that 1988 conclusion upside down. He didn't use carbon dating. He used something called the Vanillin/Lignin Test . Here is how it works, minus the heavy scientific jargon. What is Lignin and Vanillin? Linen is made from flax plants. Flax contains a chemical compound called lignin. As lignin ages and breaks down over centuries, it releases a gas called vanillin (yes, the same compound that gives vanilla its smell). Because vanillin depletes over time at a predictable rate depending on the temperature, scientists can test ancient textiles to see how much vanillin is left...