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The Color of Blood

Old blood normally turns black? The bloodstains on the Shroud are red. Some see that as a problem.

That the bloodstains are real blood has been proven over and over by many scientists working independently of one another.

It is true that old blood normally turns black. The reasons it is red are simple. Ancient cloth, as it was manufactured in the the Middle East during the first century, was starched on the loom and then washed in suds of the Soapwort plant. Ingredients of this natural soap are hemolytic, which would keep the blood red. We know, as well, that the blood on the Shroud is rich in bilirubin, a bile pigment produced when a human body is under severe traumatic stress. Bilirubin is bright red and stays red.

The scientific study of the Turin shroud is like a microcosm of the scientific search for God: it does more to inflame any debate than settle it.”

And yet, the shroud is a remarkable artefact, one of the few religious relics to have a justifiably mythical status.

It is simply not known how the ghostly image of a serene, bearded man was made.”

Scientist-Journalist Philip Ball
Nature, January 2005

Nature, that most prestigious of scientific journals, that once had bragging rights to claim that the Shroud was fake, responding to new, peer-reviewed studies that discredit the carbon 14 dating and show that the Shroud could be authentic.

WHAT WE KNOW IN 2005

The Shroud of Turin is certainly much older than the now discredited radiocarbon date of 1260-1390. It is at least twice as old and it could be 2000 years old. FACTS
Though no one knows how it was made, the image is a selective caramel-like darkening of an otherwise clear coating of starch fractions and various saccharides. FACTS
The blood is real blood. FACTS
Much of what we think we see in the image is an optical illusion. FACTS

Shroud of Turin Facts Check: 2005 Facts