Rome, Italy, Apr 12, 2010 / 12:06 pm
Results of radiocarbon dating carried out by three laboratories in 1988 which placed the origins of the Shroud in the 13th or 14th century cannot be considered as "conclusive," according to the Italian Society of Statistics (SIS). A recent "robust statistical analysis" run by a group of statisticians claims to debunk the original results, which they say contain huge inconsistencies.
Four professors, three Italian and one English, published an article in the online SIS Magazine on March 31 that revisited the original data reported in "Nature" magazine, by Damon et al. from laboratories in Tuscon, Zurich and Oxford.
Errors that Damon and his colleagues found in their 1988 test were found not to be significant, and the results were deemed to provide "conclusive evidence" of the Shroud's medieval origins.
According to the professors' calculations in their recent SIS article, these conclusions should be revisited.