Is the Shroud a fake? It wasn't placed over Jesus' body, according to a new study.

The Holy Shroud of Turin has long been considered the original shroud in which Jesus was wrapped after his crucifixion, despite the reluctance of some experts. Now, a new study appears to refute that belief: it could not have been created on a human body, but the image is much more likely the impression of a bas-relief sculpture , according to a graphic designer.

In the study, published in the journal Archaeometry , Brazilian digital designer Cicero Moraes (a specialist in historical facial reconstructions) used modeling software to compare how cloth drapes the human body versus how it drapes a bas-relief sculpture. "The image on the Shroud of Turin is more consistent with the bas-relief, which could have been made of wood, stone, or metal and pigmented (or even heated)," he explained.

The shroud was first recorded in the late 14th century , and controversy immediately arose over whether it was an authentic relic of Christ's crucifixion and death. A 1989 carbon dating analysis placed its creation between 1260 and 1390 AD, strengthening its interpretation as a medieval artifact. Previous art historical analyses have found that during this period in medieval European history, bas-relief depictions of religious figures (such as carved tombstones) were widely used.

To investigate how it would have been made, Moraes created and analyzed two digital models. The first represented a three-dimensional human body, and the second, a bas-relief representation of a human body. Using 3D simulation tools, Moraes virtually covered the two body models with fabric. By comparing the virtual fabric with photographs of the shroud taken in 1931, Moraes discovered that the fabric of the bas-relief model matched the photographs almost exactly.

In the simulation with the 3D body, Moraes wrote in the study, the fabric deformed around the body's volume, resulting in a bloated and distorted image. This distortion is sometimes referred to as the "Mask of Agamemnon effect," a reference to the abnormally wide gold death mask found in a tomb in Mycenae, Greece. Moraes demonstrated in a video how the Mask of Agamemnon effect works: He painted his face and pressed it with a paper towel. The resulting image is much wider than a frontal view of his face due to the distortion caused by printing a 3D object on 2D fabric.

But a low-relief sculpture would not distort the image and would appear more like a photocopy, similar to the Shroud of Turin, because it shows only the areas of potential direct contact, without any real volume or depth. Rather than assuming that the Shroud of Turin was the result of covering a human body with cloth, Moraes favors the explanation that it was created in a funerary context , making it "a masterpiece of Christian art." However, he did not investigate the methods or materials that may have been used in its manufacture.

If it was created in a funerary context it would undoubtedly be a masterpiece of Christian art.

In any case, the designer points out that there is a remote possibility that it is an imprint of a three-dimensional human body. Some experts believe Moraes is correct, but that his study is not particularly groundbreaking. "For at least four centuries, we have known that the image of the body on the Holy Shroud is comparable to an orthogonal projection onto a plane, which certainly could not have been created through contact with a three-dimensional body," noted Andrea Nicolotti, a professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Turin.