We will now deep dive into theories of how the body image originated on the cloth. First off, there is no widely accepted theory on how the body image got there. There are many theories and each one has strengths and weaknesses. We’ll look at the top theories and see how each stands up.
The best theory would:
– explain the most features on the shroud
– not involve methods that have been scientifically ruled out
– have the least ad hoc proposals
I will also add a theory can involve a method that current science does not fully understand. Given that 200 years ago, people did not have the scientific knowledge to understand the shroud like we do now, it’s not so far-fetched that 200 years from now, science will be advanced enough to understand something about the shroud that we currently do not know.
Features of the shroud to be explained:
– photographic negative effect
– depth encoding
– imaging where there is no cloth contact with body
– angle encoding (no image on top of head, no ears)
– second degree distortions (long fingers, long forehead, displacement of hair away from side of face)
– x-ray effect
– hyperrealism
– half-tone effect
– anatomically and medically accurate
– no image under blood, blood stains on cloth first
– no brush strokes
– no evidence of dye, pigment, paint
– no evidence of any cementation
– image unaffected by 1532 fire
– no scorching
– image formed while in rigor mortis and before decomposition
– no sign of breakage or smearing of blood
– faint image on back of cloth
– superficiality of coloring at cloth, thread, and fiber level
– image only on topmost fibers and uniform along the circumference of a fiber
– no coloring in the interior of any fibers, including those that are colored on the outside
– uncolored fibers adjacent to colored fibers
– uniform density on ventral and dorsal sides
– no evidence of erasure or rework on the shroud
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