The Shroud of Turin, a cloth made of flax, is approximately 14.3 feet long by 3.7 feet wide and contains the blood marks of a crucified man that correspond anatomically to the anterior and posterior negative images of the naked man seen on this cloth. Chemical and medical forensic studies of the blood marks prove that this is indeed blood from a crucified man. These blood marks were transferred to the cloth by a simple contact process. The images are totally a separate event from the blood marks. How these images occurred has been the subject of much discussion. Many theories (man-made, natural, and supernatural) of image formation have been postulated since the 1350's.

The present paper is a study of the frontal and dorsal images from the perspective of the surface anatomy of the images and will include a medical forensic evaluation of the blood marks. First, studies of the blood marks demonstrate how one end of the cloth was draped over the front of a body. From this information, we can appreciate the complexity of the surface geometry of the cloth onto which the frontal image of the body was recorded. Second, by studying the effect of gravity at the surface contact points of a body lying in the supine position, we understand how body weight affects anatomic form. From this study we are able to appreciate the complexity of the dorsal image formation that occurred on the other end the cloth on which the body was placed.

We demonstrate from these anatomical and medical forensic studies that body image formation was a dynamic event. In other words, during the formation of this image something remarkable happened which can be deduced from the evidence at hand. The possibilities of how the image was formed are discussed, and the final conclusion is the logical outcome of the evidence presented.

Some natural fibres contain dislocations, i.e. regions where the cell wall structure differs from that of the surrounding cell wall. Dislocations are also called slip planes, kinks, kink bands or nodes. Dislocations have been found in Turin Shroud fibres [1]. This presentation will give an overview of dislocations in plant fibres in order to give attendees of the workshop a fundamental understanding of these structures. This knowledge is a necessary pre-requisite to be able to evaluate and discuss the significance of dislocations in historic linens; what can we hope to learn from studying dislocations in these linens, and perhaps even more important, which phenomena are they not related to.

Dislocations have been found to be located in the S2 layer of the cell walls of fibres and tracheids [2], but their exact structure remains unknown. The cellulose in dislocations is often assumed to be amorphous, in contrast to the crystalline cellulose found in the bulk cell wall. However, since not only the bulk cell wall but also the dislocations are birefringent, they too must be crystalline. By applying tensile force in the longitudinal direction of individual plant fibres, dislocations can be stretched and appear to align with the bulk cell wall [3]. This confirms that microfibrils in the S2 layer of dislocations have a different angle relative to the fibre axis than the S2 microfibrils in the bulk cell wall. Dislocations are known to absorb dyes better than the surrounding cell wall [4], and they have been found to be more susceptible to hydrolysis [5,6].

Dislocations are found already in the living plant, but may also be introduced after harvest [7]. Compression strength applied in the longitudinal direction of the fibres will introduce dislocations [8,9]. The amount of dislocations in a batch of fibres may be quantified using acid hydrolysis, which will break the fibres at the positions of (some of) the dislocations, followed by determination of the lengths of the liberated fibre segments - the shorter segments, the more dislocations [5,6]. In situations where this type of destructive testing is not an option (for example regarding historic textiles), polarized light microscopy may instead be used to visualize the dislocations, and image analysis may be applied to calculate descriptive parameters such as the amount of dislocations, their sizes and the distances between them [10].

The presentation will give an overview over dislocations in plant fibres, and dislocations found in flax fibres from the Turin Shroud will be compared to those seen in plant fibres of modern origin.

References
[1] Rogers RN: Thermochimica Acta 425, 189-194 (2005)
[2] Bos HL, Donald AM: Journal of Materials Science 34, 3029-3034 (1999)
[3] Thygesen LG, Eder M, Burgert I: Journal of Materials Science 42, 558-564 (2007)
[4] Buschle-Diller G, Zeronian SH, Pan N, Yoon MY: Textile Research Journal 64: 270-279 (1994)
[5] Ander P, Daniel G, Garcia-Lindgren C, Marklund A: Nordic Pulp and Paper Research Journal 20, 115-120 (2005)
[6] Thygesen LG: Journal of Materials Science 43, 1311-1317 (2008)
[7] Thygesen LG, Asgharipour MR: Journal of Materials Science 43, 3670-3673 (2008)
[8] Terziev N, Daniel G, Marklund A: Holzforschung 59, 163-169 (2005)
[9] Eder M, Terziev N, Daniel G, Burgert I: Holzforschung 62, 77-81 (2008)
[10] Thygesen LG, Ander P: Nordic Pulp and Paper Research Journal 20, 64-71 (2005)

As a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a BS degree in Engineering as well as a Master's degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh, I was uniquely qualified for my roles as the spokesman and editor for STURP. Furthermore as the 1977 Proceedings of the US Conference of Research on the Shroud of Turin demonstrated, those qualifications served me well in a document that is still recognized as the starting point for much subsequent Shroud research. What is not well known however, is that I was also selected to co-author along with the late Messrs Robert Dinegar and John Heller what was to have been the definitive book of our research following the three year study of testing results that we obtained in Turin. Instead, in what some have dubbed our "politically correct post-Christian era" there was an attempt to expunge any "Christian" connection from STURP's research in the false hope that such an effort would render the startling results of the research more "acceptable" to the Scientific Community.
A dear friend of mine suggested several years ago that I compose a "white paper" on the Shroud. For those who may not know a "white paper" in short "…is an article that states an organization's position or philosophy about a …. subject, or a not-too-detailed technical explanation … (that) explains the results, conclusions, …. resulting from some organized committee or research collaboration … Webster's indicate(s) that the term arose … to distinguish short government reports from longer, more detailed ones that were bound in blue covers and referred to as "blue books"… A shorter government publication providing a report or position about something was bound in the same white paper as the text - hence, "a white paper." …In government… is often a policy or position paper. That suggestion brought about a whole new direction for me in my study of the Shroud. A summary of which was presented at the Ohio Conference in 2008. The result pointed toward a perspective of Shroud studies that I had not previously considered: a purpose for the Shroud more in line with its Jewish purview than its Christian significance. My report with regard to the Shroud of Turin will touch on the research of STURP from my specific position in STURP. Furthermore it will cover my own personal research for the last thirty-two years.
Like my previous writings on the Shroud I will not shy away from subjects that some may consider "controversial". In particular the paper will be neither "pistis-phobic" nor "logos-phobic"(from the Greek for faith and Word respectively) as I intend to deal in depth with matters of faith and the Word of God. Finally I will make my own personal attempt to take a reasoned "position" based upon the totality of the evidence rather than to argue from the "lack" of what some might call "proof". Indeed while I think faith would not allow us to find the "smoking gun" of sindonology per se, surely logic and reason can indeed reach a "position" that true science should neither shun nor fear. Sindonlogy itself is a great field entrusted to us and to cite the Apostle Paul we should "… keep that which is committed to (our) trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: 1Tim6:20

The one hypothesis that has been found to be consistent with all the evidence regarding the Turin Shroud is that the primary image on the cloth of the crucified body of a man was the result of a momentary burst of radiant energy. This would account for the distance coded information, the "photographic negative" characteristics, the confinement of the image to the surface fibres and the absence of pigment in the main body of the image.
But How?…and Why? How did a corpse shine momentarily brighter than the sun?
Did he leave us a photographic negative imprint of the very moment of resurrection?
We do not appeal to the concept of "miracle" nor to the platitudes of "mystery" but intend to demonstrate through reasoned argument and scientific evidence that the possibility of such a phenomenon is not merely plausible but is self-evident from the fundamental axioms which describe what we humans call reality such as it is.
For example: E=MC² suggests that mass is 'condensed' energy. As yet this equation has not been generally considered to have relation to the sentient observer. Quantum theory, at least according to Erwin Schrödinger (and he should know) needs the presence of consciousness to bring the equations to life.
Physicists and cosmologists believe that a "theory of everything" would need to unite quantum theory with relativity through gravity.
Schrödinger himself contended that quantum theory was consistent with the unitary nature of consciousness. That fundamentally we are all one. However, our thoughts and actions belie this by our divisiveness, self-centredness, ego and ignorance which could take humanity to the brink of annihilation or "devolution" to become beasts.
If, as the equations, and our existence as incarnate sentient beings demonstrate matter is condensed "mindstuff" or "thought" then perhaps the man on the shroud conducted the greatest scientific experiment of all time by living a life that was an antidote to the qualities outlined above and therefore returned matter to the "light" from which it is derived.

References
[1] Thomas J Phillips (High Energy Physics Lab, Harvard) Nature:337, 594 (1989)
[2] Erwin Schrödinger: "What is Life?" Cambridge University Press
[3] Kevin Moran, Giulio Fanti: IV Symposium Scientifique International du CIELT Paris 25-26/04/2002