The archaeological cloth known as the Shroud of Turin is a controversial object for both scientific and religious reasons. After a brief introduction on the scientific data about the age of the cloth and the microscopic complexity of the images embedded on it, we discuss the unique reddish color of blood stains on the Shroud, which caught the attention of several scholars in the last decades. Various hypotheses were proposed to explain the blood stains reddish color, and the experimental tests produced uncertain results because data were not sufficient or were obtained in vitro. We have tested the strength of two hypotheses, namely, the long term influence of ultraviolet (UV) light on high-bilirubin blood and the presence of carboxyhemoglobin, respectively by RGB color analyses of high-bilirubin blood after irradiation by ns excimer laser pulses and UV lamp and by the study of the spectral reflectance of the blood stains on the Shroud.

Date Published: 3 January 2019
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 11042, XXII International Symposium on High Power Laser Systems and Applications, 1104214 (3 January 2019); doi: 10.1117/12.2522112

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 11042:
XXII International Symposium on High Power Laser Systems and Applications
Paolo Di Lazzaro, Editor(s)