2 THE RADIOCARBON DATE AND HOW THE IMAGE WAS FORMED ON THE SHROUD

When asked by the editor of Shroud Spectrum International to write a paper concerning the recent radiocarbon measurement on the Shroud, I was uncertain as to which approach to take. Finally, I decided that a paper dealing with the image formation process in light of the radiocarbon date would be the most appropriate since that is the topic in which I, as a physicist, have been most interested over the past fourteen years. According to the C14 measurement, the Shroud cloth, and hence the image it bears, most likely dates to the fourteenth century. While I can accept this conclusion in principle, it would be unscientific not to ask if it is consistent with other data concerning the Shroud, or conversely, if other data are consistent with it. Examples of "other data " are historical criticism based on extant documents and paintings, forensic studies, particle analysis (e.g. of pollens and of dirt found on the dorsal foot, etc.), and production mechanisms for the image. Because of the potential importance I have always attached to the Shroud, I would hope that comparative studies in these and other areas would be made by serious scientists and scholars before the C14 date is finally accepted. There must be a basic consistency in our interpretation of all Shroud data which now includes the C14 measurement. In this spirit