The Sudarium

What the Sudarium Is

The Sudarium is a bloodstained cloth measuring about 84 x 53 cm (33 x 21 inches) retained in the Cámara Santa of the Cathedral of San Salvador in Oviedo, Spain. It is reputed to be the head cloth reportedly seen by Jesus’ disciple John in the tomb. [Bennett 2001, 13-14]
Presumably it was used to discreetly cover the head while removing Jesus’ body from the cross and transporting it to a nearby tomb. [John 90, 20:7]

Several references state that the apostle Peter was an early custodian of the Sudarium. [Bennett 2001, 22-24]
The Sudarium has a documented history geographically independent from the Shroud. Most accounts agree that (a) the Sudarium was present in Jerusalem until 614, when the Persians invaded; (b) it and other relics were transported to North Africa (probably Alexandria) until 616, when the Persians arrived there; (c) it was taken by sea to Cartagena, Spain, to evade capture by Moorish invaders; (d) then directly taken to Seville during the time of St. Isodore; (e) after his death in 636 it spent 75 years in Toledo until the Muslim invasion of 711; (f) eventually it was hidden in the Asturias mountains of northern Spain; and (g) finally residing in Oviedo since it was founded in 761. [Bennett 2001, 28-29]
Like the Shroud, it has a radiocarbon date more recent than its documented history: specifically, 642-869 (Tucson lab) and 6653-786 (Toronto lab) each with 95% certainty. [Bennett 2001, 78] This raises an obvious dating contradiction, a discrepancy parallel to the radiocarbon dating of the Shroud discussed in detail elsewhere. See §Radiation Hypothesis
The of the types of pollen on the Suderium indicate its presence in Palestine: Quercus (holm oak and kermes oak), Pistacia Palestina (mastic tree, terebinth tree) and Tamarix (tamarind tree, salt cedar). The rest of the pollen types are from the Mediterranean. [Bennett 2012]

The blood of the stains on the Sudarium matches that of the Shroud: type AB, common in the Middle East, rarer in Europe. [Bennett 2001, 84]
The blood patterns on the Sudarium exactly match those on the facial image of the Shroud. [Jones2017, ELEVENTH CENTURY]
The above is further evidence that the AD 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud is anomalous. The history of the Sudarium of Oviedo dates to AD 570, at the latest. The pattern of blood stains on it (right image below) matches the blood pattern on the face and head of the image on the Shroud (left image below).

Plates 13-20 in Bennett’s book illustrate this is more detail. [Bennett 2001, 122]

Unlike the Shroud, the Sudarium has no image, but that is consistent with the eyewitness detail that the head cloth was not in contact with Jesus’ body in the tomb. [John 20:7].

The Sudarium is an independent, strong confirmation that the Shroud of Turin likely covered the same crucified body, namely Jesus Christ’s body. So, to disprove that, a skeptic would need to construct an exceedingly sophisticated, convincing, alternative scenario fortified with even better evidence than the above (and beyond a predisposed negative bias).