Shroud of Turin for Journalists - Carbon Dating Mistakes, Etc. : Carbon 14 Failure

The Raes Corner was an early indicator that something was wrong with the carbon 14 dating

Gilbert Raes of the Ghent Institute of Textile Technology was granted permission to remove a small cutting from a corner of the Shroud in 1973. He found cotton fibers that he suggested might be leftover fibers from a loom that was used for weaving both cotton and linen cloth. It might have been that the Shroud was exposed to cotton contaminants much later, even from gloves used by researchers. However, when he later examined some of the carbon 14 samples, he noticed that cotton fibers were contained inside threads, twisted-in as part of the thread.

It is important to note that cotton fiber is not found anywhere else on the Shroud. But this was not apparent at the time and it led to false reports that the Shroud threads, in general, contained cotton fiber.

Raymond N. Rogers, a Los Alamos National Laboratory chemist, in following up on Raes’ examination of the 1973 cutting, also found cotton. Moreover, Rogers found dyestuff and spliced threads that were not found anywhere else on the Shroud. It is significant to note that the carbon 14 sample was adjacent to the Raes Corner.

In December 2003, Rogers obtained material that had been reserved from the center of the carbon 14 sample. In this material that he found the same chemical characteristics found in Raes cutting. It dye materials along with evidence of spliced threads proved that the Shroud had been mended and that the carbon 14 dating had included a significant amount of new material; thus skewing the date.