The Sudarium of Oviedo
A small bloodstained linen kept in Oviedo Cathedral, Spain, venerated as the face-cloth that covered Jesus' head in the tomb (John 20:7). Researchers from the Spanish Centre of Sindonology (EDICES) report it shares type AB blood with the Shroud of Turin and claim more than 120 points of correspondence between the two cloths' stain patterns. It is documented in Oviedo earlier than the Shroud is documented in Europe. But its chain back to first-century Jerusalem rests on later, partly suspect accounts; radiocarbon dating points to roughly 700 AD; and skeptics argue the overlay matches are subjective and the AB result unremarkable for aged blood. Older-provenanced than the Shroud, but its first-century link is unproven and the case is genuinely contested.
A small bloodstained linen kept in Oviedo Cathedral, Spain, venerated as the face-cloth that covered Jesus' head in the tomb (John 20:7). Researchers from the Spanish Centre of Sindonology (EDICES) report it shares type AB blood with the Shroud of Turin and claim more than 120 points of correspondence between the two cloths' stain patterns. It is documented in Oviedo earlier than the Shroud is documented in Europe. But its chain back to first-century Jerusalem rests on later, partly suspect accounts; radiocarbon dating points to roughly 700 AD; and skeptics argue the overlay matches are subjective and the AB result unremarkable for aged blood. Older-provenanced than the Shroud, but its first-century link is unproven and the case is genuinely contested.
A fuller write-up of the documentation and analysis is in progress.
Sources
Tagged by proximity to the event. Primary sources are direct or contemporaneous; tertiary are downstream retellings.
- 1.Tertiarywebsite
Wikipedia contributors, "Sudarium of Oviedo"
Provenance chain, radiocarbon ~700 AD, Pelagius of Oviedo 'Prince of Falsifiers,' note that stains form no image unlike the Shroud.
- 2.Primaryinvestigation
Primary EDICES forensic account: blood group AB, aloe/storax particles atop stains, DNA too fragmented to compare (largest ~323 bases), concedes C14 would make same-body claim 'impossible.'
- 3.Primaryacademic
Peer-reviewed: shared AB type proves nothing about common origin; AB antigens also bacterial; polymorphic markers required and absent.
- 4.Secondaryinvestigation
Hugh Farey, "Does the Sudarium of Oviedo match the Shroud?"
Skeptical analysis: overlays subjective, photos edited, different cloth orientations, no evidence before 1075, 'epsilon/teardrop' = special pleading, congruence = coincidence.
- 5.Secondarywebsite
"The Sudarium of Oviedo and the Shroud of Turin"
Proponent summary: Guscin's 'more than 120 points of coincidence,' head tilt 70°/20°, Max Frei pollen incl. Palestine-limited Quercus calliprinos. (Page returned 403 on fetch; figures corroborated via search snippet and cross-sources.)
- 6.Primaryinvestigation
Mark Guscin, "The Sudarium of Oviedo", shroud.com (BSTS Newsletter)
Guscin's foundational 1997 paper on EDICES findings, AB blood, and claimed stain-pattern congruence with the Shroud.