1988–1989

Radiocarbon dating is published

Three laboratories date the sampled linen to 1260–1390 AD at 95% confidence.

The 1989 Nature paper reported the laboratories’ radiocarbon results and a medieval calibrated date range. Later claims about the sample’s representativeness have been debated; the published result remains a central part of the discussion.

In 1988, samples cut from one corner of the Shroud were distributed to laboratories at Oxford, Zurich and the University of Arizona for accelerator mass spectrometry. The results were published in Nature in 1989. The reported calibrated range was AD 1260–1390 at 95% confidence, placing the sampled linen in the medieval period.¹

What the surviving source says

The published measurement is the strongest direct date for the cloth. Later researchers have questioned whether the sampled corner was representative, citing possible contamination, repairs or textile heterogeneity. Those challenges are debated and do not erase the original result; they identify questions that a future sampling design would need to test.¹²

Historical significance and limits

The result dates the tested material, not the image-making event or the identity of the depicted man. Historical claims must account for the radiocarbon result and its stated uncertainty.²³

Sources and further reading

1. Damon et al., “Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin,” Nature 337 (1989), 611–615. Consult the cited passage in the full source and its transmission context; the article distinguishes the source’s wording from later interpretation.
2. Otangelo Grasso, The Image That Should Not Exist: A Scientific Investigation of the Shroud of Turin (2026), ch. 2, “Origins and Historical Record,” pp. 23–31. Author synthesis; not an independent witness.
3. Otangelo Grasso, From Forensics to Faith (2026), ch. 3, “6th to 14th Century History,” pp. 126–194. The book advances an interpretation; this article separates that interpretation from the underlying document or measurement.
4. Otangelo Grasso, The Shroud of Turin: A Forensic Summary, 3rd ed. (2026), ch. 16, “The Hidden Thread,” pp. 276–294. The author’s proposed reconstruction is cited as interpretation, not corroboration.
5. International Centre of Sindonology, historical overview. Further reading or contextual source retained from this event’s earlier bibliography.
6. Shroud.com historical chronology and document references. Further reading or contextual source retained from this event’s earlier bibliography.