Neutron Radiation Effects on Linen Fibers and Consequences for a Radiocarbon Dating by Francesco Barbesino (fra. bar@libero.it) and Mario Moroni. Saturday, August 16, 1:15 p.m.�1:45 p.m. 

Many hypotheses have been done to interpret the dubious results of the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Turin Shroud. Among them, those of 1.) J. Marino and 2.) R. Rogers who suppose a Middle Age patching, that of 3.) M. Alonso who supposes the sample substitution, and that of 4.) J.B. Rinaudo who hypothesizes a proton radiation responsible of the body image formation coupled with a neutron radiation responsible for a rejuvenation of the linen must be considered. 

In the view of this last hypothesis, the authors, also supported by 5.) Phillips� results, have studied the influence of the cleaning pre-treatment techniques on the result of the radiocarbon analyses using irradiated linen samples of an Egyptian mummy. 

In particular, they studied the possible contamination effect of a neutron radiation acting on linen fibers of a second century B.C. fabric, also considering the fact that it is not simple to change the chemical structure of the pure cellulose resident in the fiber�s core. 

Supposing that the chemical change of the linen fibers irradiated by neutrons takes place principally in the external layers of the fibers (those composed of lignin and pectin), the authors made the following experimental test. 

They radiocarbon dated many samples cut from an Egyptian Lyma mummy of the Lyon Museum of Textiles. 

Before performing the analysis, in order to remove all the contaminants, they used increasingly severe cleaning pre- treatments. The C-14 content decreased with the increasing severity of these pretreatments. The result changed from 590 50 years BP with a yield of 85 percent to 1750 50 years BP with a yield of 10 percent. 

These results confirm that the neutron contamination principally acts on external layers of linen fibers and that a cleaning procedure, able to only leave the inner cellulosic core, allows for a quite reliable radiocarbon dating. These results are discussed in light of the 1988 results of the Shroud sample. 

REFERENCES 

MARINO J. G., BENFORD M. S., �Evidence for the Skewing of the C-14 Dating of The Shroud of Turin due to Repairs�, www.shroud.com/pdfs/marben.pdf.

ROGERS R., Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the Shroud of Turin. Thermochimica Acta, Vol. 425, Issues 1�2 , 20, January 2005, pp. 189�194.

ALONSO M., Shroud Science Internet Group on Yahoo! discussion.

RINAUDO J.B., �Image formation on the Shroud of Turin explained by a protonic model affecting radiocarbon dat�ing, III Congresso Internazionale di studi sulla Sindone, Torino 5�7 giugno 1998.

PHILLIPS, T.J., �Shroud Irradiated with Neutrons?,� Nature, Vol. 337, 16 February, 1989, p. 594, http://creationevo�lutiondesign.blogspot.com/2007/05/bogus-shroud-of-turin-4.html. 
 


 

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