Pollen, Plant Traces Bolster Case for Shroud of Turin

Pollen, plant traces bolster case for Shroud of Turin

CNN News

June 15, 1999

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Plant imprints and pollen found on the
Shroud of Turin support the premise that it originated in
the Holy Land, two Israeli scientists say.

"In the light of our findings, it is highly probable that
the shroud did in fact come from this part of the world,"
said Avinoam Danin, a botany professor at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem.

The botanists, whose findings were reported in Tuesday's
Haaretz newspaper, did not address the issue of the age of
the linen cloth, believed by many to be the burial cloth in
which Jesus was wrapped after his crucifixion.

The shroud was brought to France by a 14th-century crusader
and has been enshrined since 1578 in a cathedral in Turin,
Italy. About 13 feet long and 3 feet wide, it bears the
faint image of a man with wounds similar to those suffered
by Jesus.

In 1988, scientists tested scraps of the shroud with Vatican
approval and concluded it dated back to between 1260 and
1390. They couldn't explain how the image was made, and some
experts have said contamination might have affected the
carbon-14 dating tests. Danin and his colleague Uri Baruch
refused to discuss the authenticity of the shroud itself.

The shroud also includes the images of some plants, and
Danin identified one as the bean caper (Zygophyllum
dumosum), which he said grows only in Israel, Jordan and
Egypt's Sinai desert.

Two other plants whose images were found on the shroud were
the Rock Rose (Cistus creticus) which grows throughout the
Middle East; and the Goundelia tournefortii tumbleweed,
believed by some Christians to be the material of the crown
of thorns.

Traces of pollen grains taken from the shroud are from
plants found in Israel and neighboring countries, including
the bean caper and the tumbleweed appearing on the shroud,
said Baruch, a pollen specialist at the Israel Antiquities
Authority.

The flowers "could have been picked up fresh in the fields.
A few of the species could be found in the markets of
Jerusalem in the spring," Danin said. The shroud also
contains the imprint of a coin minted in the reign of the
Roman Emperor Tiberius, who ruled at the time of the
crucifixion.

The Roman Catholic Church has never claimed the cloth as a
holy relic, but the cloth has attracted pilgrims to Turin
since the Middle Ages. Pope John Paul II, who knelt in
silent prayer before the cloth last year, urged scientists
to do more testing of the linen.

The shroud went on display in a bulletproof case for several
weeks last year and will go on view next in 2000, for Holy
Year celebrations.