text: A blood pattern analysis of the Shroud of Turin has revealed that there's just absolutely no way the stains could have been made by a body laying flat on the fabric. 
   
   A pair of researchers have found that the blood-like splotches on the linen cloth are inconsistent with each other - some can only have occurred by a person standing upright, while another is completely unrealistic. 
   
   The famous length of fabric, which bears the image of a man, has long been thought to be the cloth that once wrapped the body of Christian figurehead Jesus of Nazareth. The imprint is said to have been transferred during the three days his body was interred. 
   
   Scientific analysis has not yet yielded an answer as to how the image was created on the fabric, but several reddish stains consistent with the reported crucifixion wounds of Jesus of Nazareth contain iron oxide - which could be from pigment, or could be from blood. 
   
   However, radiocarbon techniques have dated the shroud to between 1260 and 1390 CE. 
   
   The weave and the fabricweave and the fabric are both consistent with the Jesus of Nazareth time frame, as well as the Middle Ages; analysis of the cloth shows inconclusive evidence for pigment; and research determining a Middle Eastern provenance for pollen found on the cloth was later disavowed by one of its authors. 
   
   Radiocarbon dating notwithstanding, it would be fascinating to know exactly how the shroud was made; and, if it's real, it could reveal new information about crucifixion techniques. Because evidence for the shroud's authenticity has been so inconclusive, there has been recent scientific interest in using forensic techniques to investigate it. 
   
   This is where forensic anthropologist Matteo Borrini of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and organic chemist Luigi Garlaschelli of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences enter the picture. 
   
   Rather than testing the substance itself, the researchers used a live subject and a mannequin to analyse the blood flow on wounds on the left hand, the forearms, the "lance wound" in the torso, and blood stains around the figure's waist. 
   
   The technique is called Bloodstain Pattern Analysis; for this, they used two types of blood: human blood donated for the research, and synthetic blood with the same fluid properties. 
   
   The researchers studied the flow for different positions: on the back of the hand in contact with wood, to observe the pattern left on the hand; on the left forearm, with blood trickling from the hand, in a standing position, and again in a supine (lying on the back) position with the hand covering the groin, as seen on the shroud. 
   
   They also investigated the short trickles on the back of the left hand; and the blood over the spear wound, as well as the lumbar region, thought to be blood flow from that wound. 
   
   The wood test was inconclusive, but the blood flow tests show that the shroud is a mess. 
   
   For starters, the trickles on the back of the hand and the flow along the arm occurred at two completely different angles. 
   
   The trickles from the hand as seen on the shroud occurred in the tests with the arms at a 45 degree angle, but that just doesn't work for the supposed position of the body. 
   
   "The angle between the arm and the body must be greater than 80° and smaller than 100° in order for the rivulets to flow from the wrist toward the elbow on the outer part of the forearm, as it appears on the Shroud," the researchers wrote in their paper. 
   
   (Borrini & Garlaschelli/Journal of Forensic Science) 
   
   The spear wound bled in a direction consistent with the Shroud image when the test subject was upright, as would occur if the victim were pierced while hanging crucified, but with one key difference: it formed rivulets, rather than a solidly filled stain. 
   
   As for the lower back stain, the scientists could not replicate it at all. 
   
   They attempted it with both bleeding from a supine position, as well as a test subject that had been standing and then laid on its back, and nothing managed to produce a "blood belt" in the lower back. 
   
   "Assuming that the red stains on the Turin linen are actually blood from the crucifixion wounds, the results of the experiments demonstrate that the alleged flowing patterns from different areas of the body are not consistent with each other. 
   
   "Even supposing possible different episodes of bleeding (e.g., movements of the body, postmortem bleeding), these are not only non-documented, but also, as for the lumbar stains, they appear to be unrealistic," the researchers wrote. 
   
   "The inconsistencies identified by the authors seem not only to point against their own reality, but against the authenticity of the Shroud itself, suggesting that the Turin linen was an artistic or 'didactic' representation from the XIV century." 
   
   That doesn't mean the show is entirely over yet: until scientists are able to figure out exactly how the image was formed on the fabric, it's going to remain a tantalising scientific mystery. 
   
   Their findings have been published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. ||||| The Shroud of Turin, which has been revered by some Christians as the burial cloth of Jesus, could be a fake, according to a new forensic investigation. 
   
   The investigation into the bloodstain pattern on the cloth was reported Tuesday in the Journal of Forensic Sciences and is apparently the first such analysis of the controversial shroud. 
   
   Held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the shroud shows the image of a crucified man and has been analyzed and scrutinized for many, many years. The Vatican regards it as an icon, rather than a religious relic—and the church has never weighed in on its authenticity nor officially rejected it. 
   
   In 2015, more than 2 million people saw the Shroud of Turin, which is 14-feet-long, 3.5-feet-wide and kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case. The cloth has long been the subject of debate and study. 
   
   Researchers concluded that the linen seems to be patched with bloodstains from a standing model, not a crucified man or a facedown corpse, reports BuzzFeed News, adding evidence to claims that it is a fraud. 
   
   “This is the kind of forensic work done all the time in police investigations,” Matteo Borrini, a forensic scientist at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom, told BuzzFeed News. “Even a crucified or hanging person should leave a distinct blood pattern on the cloth, which would be fascinating information to have.” 
   
   Borrini and his colleagues used real and synthetic blood samples to conduct seven different tests on different body parts depicted on the fabric. By pumping blood onto a model at wound points shown on the shroud, researchers could compare the angle that gravity pulled the liquid against the direction depicted on the linen. They found bloodstains that were inconsistent with any single pose, which seems to suggest a standing model was used to imprint the patterns. 
   
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   If it was truly the death shroud of someone hung on a cross, or pulled down from one for burial, Borrini said, “the bloodstains shouldn’t be so inconsistent.” 
   
   BuzzFeed reports that researchers found forearm rivulets matched an arm held straight out around 90 degrees to the side, for example, while the hand marks matched an arm held out at about 45 degrees. Some hand bloodstains traced angles at odds with each other as well, off by as much as 10 degrees. A simulated spear wound in the chest ran in completely different patterns than the one on the shroud, whether standing or prone. “This is just not what happens to a person on a cross,” Borrini said. 
   
   “Overall, the approach is founded in science and the methodology sound,” bloodstain pattern expert Jonathyn Priest of Bevel, Gardner and Associates Inc. told BuzzFeed News. 
   
   However, Priest cautioned that the conclusions were based on body parts held in a fixed position, rather than accounting for carrying a body, cleaning a body, or preparing a body for burial, which might bear more study. 
   
   “The fact that flowing bloodstains exist at all on a deceased body that was reportedly cleaned also raises questions,” he added. 
   
   Although this latest research is not definitive, generations of the faithful will continue to be fascinated by the Shroud of Turin. ||||| “This is just not what happens to a person on a cross,” said a forensic investigator. 
   
   Gerard Julien / AFP / Getty Images Pope John Paul II prays at the Turin Cathedral of St. John the Baptist before the controversial Turin shroud. 
   
   The Shroud of Turin, long considered by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus, has inconsistent bloodstain patterns that suggest it is a fake, a new forensic investigation has found. Held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the shroud bears an image of a crucified man. It has been analyzed for decades, to some controversy, with radiocarbon dating determining its origin to be between 1260 and 1390. It is regarded by the Vatican as an icon, rather than a genuine religious relic. More than 2 million people came to see the shroud during a three-month display in 2015, including Pope Francis. The bloodstain pattern investigation reported on Tuesday by the Journal of Forensic Sciences is the first such analysis of the cloth, looking at its purported blood splatters and their alignment to each other in a kind of crime scene analysis. The researchers concluded that the linen appears patched with bloodstains from a standing model, not a crucified man or facedown corpse, adding to evidence that the shroud is a medieval fraud. “This is the kind of forensic work done all the time in police investigations,” Matteo Borrini, a forensic scientist at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom, told BuzzFeed News. “Even a crucified or hanging person should leave a distinct blood pattern on the cloth, which would be fascinating information to have.” 
   
   Borrini conducted the analysis with chemist Luigi Garlaschelli of the University of Pavia in Italy, using real and synthetic blood samples on cloth to test the orientation of stains on the better-defined left side of the cloth (they also compared the two liquids to see if they flowed the same way). They hoped to answer a debate over whether the crucifixion depicted on the cloth was T-shaped, Y-shaped, or some other manner of ancient Roman execution. 
   
   Instead, they found that the bloodstains are inconsistent with any one pose, suggesting that a standing model was used to imprint the patterns at different angles for the hands, chest, and back. If it were a death shroud of a bleeding, executed person, hung on a cross, or pulled down from one for burial, Borrini said, “the bloodstains shouldn’t be so inconsistent.” In the analysis, the two researchers conducted seven different bloodstain tests on different body parts depicted on the fabric: the hand, forearm, chest, and lower back, along with a belt of blood (whether it is actually blood or paint pigments is another disputed forensic question) at the waist. By pumping blood onto a model at wound points depicted on the shroud, they could compare the angle that gravity pulled the liquid against the direction seen on the linen. They discovered the angle at which gravity would pull blood dripping from a body in the way seen on the shroud varied with the body part: The forearm rivulets corresponded to an arm held straight out around 90 degrees to the side, for example, while the hand marks matched an arm held out at about 45 degrees. Some hand bloodstains traced angles at odds with each other as well, off by as much as 10 degrees. A simulated spear wound in the chest ran in completely different patterns than the one on the shroud, whether standing or prone. “This is just not what happens to a person on a cross,” Borrini said. 
   
   
   
   Luigi Garlaschelli / Via youtube.com A screengrab of the research.
target: – The Shroud of Turin is supposedly the burial cloth that was wrapped around Jesus after his crucifixion; bloodstains on the linen shroud, which are said to have been transferred to it during the three days Jesus was in the tomb, form the image of a crucified man. But a new study reported in the Journal of Forensic Sciences finds the bloodstain image was likely faked. Researchers looking at the blood spatter found that the stains appeared to come from someone standing up, rather than someone who was flat on the fabric, Science Alert reports. As the researchers put it, the stains are "totally unrealistic" when compared to what they should look like. The shroud, which is held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Italy, is considered an icon, as opposed to a genuine religious relic, by the Vatican; Fox News notes "the church has never weighed in on its authenticity." "This is the kind of forensic work done all the time in police investigations," the forensic scientist who conducted the analysis tells BuzzFeed News. "Even a crucified or hanging person should leave a distinct blood pattern on the cloth, which would be fascinating information to have." The study found inconsistent staining, with researchers concluding multiple poses were used to create the bloodstains—a standing model was likely used to imprint patterns on the cloth at various angles for various body parts. Another bloodstain pattern expert notes that more research could be done to see whether cleaning a body or preparing it for burial might account for the inconsistent staining, though he notes that the stains do appear to have come from flowing blood, meaning a heart that was beating at the time the stains were made. (See previous stories in the real-or-fake debate here.)