Iconography Attests an Old Age for the Shroud
Before the 13th Century
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Extant paintings or mosaics of Jesus dating from the sixth century onward contain a consistent rendering which matches the Shroud.
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Coins, minted well before the 13th century radiocarbon date include similar images explicitly titled as Jesus Christ. This contradicts the problematic radiocarbon dating.
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These icons include most or all the 15 Vignon markings, which are specific characteristics of the Shroud of Turin. Most of those characteristic features do not contribute aesthetically to the artistry. Yet they are unnecessarily included, and so they otherwise would be superfluous details.
Drawing by a friend of Paul Vignon, available at https://i.pinimg.com/originals/38/d1/58/38d1589d2eb7b5143d294d0710b2f801.jpg
The Vignon markings:
(1) Transverse streak across forehead
(2) “U” between brows
(3) “V” shape at bridge of nose
(4) another “V” within 2
(5) raised right eyebrow
(6) accentuated left cheek
(7) accentuated right cheek
(8) enlarged left nostril
(9) accentuated line between nose and upper lip
(10) heavy line under lower lip
(11) hairless area between lower lip and beard
(12) forked beard
(13) transverse line across throat
(14) heavily accentuated owlish eyes
(15) two strands of hair
Example Icons
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An 6th century, well-executed icon is the Christ Pantocrator mosaic from Hagia Sophia Chapel in Istambul, Turkey. Many such renderings reflect many of the Vignon characteristics. Notice the long nose, the down-turned mustache, the hairless area beneath the lower lip, the transverse line below the throat, the vertical line beneath the nose, the split beard, the wisp of two forehead hairs, ….
photo by Edal Anton Lefterov - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15165689
mosaic: Christ the Merciful, Ehemals Staatliche Museum, Berlin
mosaic: Christ Pantocrator, dome of church of Daphni
left: painting in catacomb of Pontian, Rome, 7-8th century
right: Christ Pantocrator - Cattedrale di Monreale – Sicily (1174)
Example Coins
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Coins minted well before the 13th Century contain an image of Jesus which also exhibit detailed features of the Shroud.
left: Christ Pantocrator gold solidus coin by Emperor Justinian II (669-711)
right: Histameno do imperador bizantino Miguel VII Ducas (1050-1090)
both: from Wikimedia Commons
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Hungarian Pray Codex
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It is a collection of medieval manuscripts, dated to the late 12th to early 13th centuries.
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It features illustrations depicting the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which show generic similarities with the Shroud: a naked body, cloth with herringbone weave pattern, thumbs not visible, and four burn holes, which appear to form a letter L (as on the Shroud).
public domain photo of illustration in Hungarian Pray Codex
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Implication
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The above iconography and coins contradict the 13th Century radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin. Several other dating methods however are consistent with the 1st Century. A potentially testable hypothesis for the 14C/12C discrepancy is presented elsewhere in this compendium. See §Radiation Hypothesis