Future Tests
Nondestructive Testing
· Further imaging with refined, modern multispectral sensors, might reveal more about the image. Perhaps it would suggest what was the physics behind the image.
Destructive Testing of the Removed Burned Cloth Samples
· Carbon-14 tests nearer to image would reveal even more recent age and perhaps date to the future. If so, this would conclusively show that the image was caused by radiation and would explain why the 1988 carbon-14 dating was in the thirteenth century.
· Tests detecting isotopes Cl-36 and Ca-41, which are nonexistent or at least very rare in nature would certainly imply an anomalous nuclear event.
The curators of the Shroud were shocked by the controversial C-14 dating, so are not open to further testing. Besides the Shroud is now contained in a special container, never to be removed from it. However, the charred pieces of linen previously removed from the Shroud are stored in glass vials and would be available for further C-14 testing if the curators were to allow it.