Research Article
The Sequential Addition of Blood and Image to the Shroud of Turin
Kelly Kearse*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 2, December 2026
Pages:
16-26
Received:
23 June 2026
Accepted:
1 July 2026
Published:
22 July 2026
Abstract: The Shroud of Turin is an important archaeological textile showing the front and back images of a man with blood marks consistent with scourging and crucifixion. The cloth has been proposed to represent either the burial linen of the historical Jesus of Nazareth or the product of a medieval artist. Almost forty-five years ago, it was reported that enzymatic digestion of blood from fibers taken within a Shroud image area revealed no image-type coloration underneath. Such findings led to the suggestion that blood was transferred to the cloth first, protecting such areas from subsequent image formation. Although often evoked as a form of scientific proof for the Shroud’s authenticity, there has been no further experimentation to explore this interesting concept. Given the peculiar feature of colored fibers existing adjacent to non-colored fibers within image areas of the Shroud, the issue has been raised that prior digestion studies may have been confounded by neighboring uncolored fibers underneath the blood. Additionally, it has been proposed that blood may have a “bleaching effect” on fabric, which could revert colored fibers in a scenario where the blood was added secondarily to a created image. The ordered relationship between blood and image is particularly intriguing given that recent findings using nanosecond pulses of ultraviolet energy to create superficial and Shroud-like coloration on linen were shown to vaporize bloodstains. In the current report, studies were performed to investigate factors that might potentially relate to the sequential order of blood and image addition to the Shroud of Turin. These studies show that addition of blood to acid-treated linen nullifies subsequent coloration, providing an example of no image underneath bloodstains with these conditions. The “bleaching effect” of blood was evaluated and shown to be restricted to only one out of three coloration systems that were examined, leading to the general conclusion that blood added after coloration is unable to reverse it. Finally, these studies document that linen underneath blood (or serum) was affected by energy transfer from radiation, even under conditions corresponding to latent coloration.
Abstract: The Shroud of Turin is an important archaeological textile showing the front and back images of a man with blood marks consistent with scourging and crucifixion. The cloth has been proposed to represent either the burial linen of the historical Jesus of Nazareth or the product of a medieval artist. Almost forty-five years ago, it was reported that ...
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Research Article
Settlement Organization and Early State Formation in the Iori-Alazani Interfluve: Evidence from the Ancient City of Didnauri
Konstantine Kote Pitskhelauri*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 2, December 2026
Pages:
27-36
Received:
13 July 2026
Accepted:
10 August 2026
Published:
9 September 2026
Abstract: The emergence of early state societies in the South Caucasus remains a fundamental issue in Near Eastern archaeology. This study examines the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age settlement system of the Iori-Alazani interfluve in eastern Georgia, with particular emphasis on the recently discovered ancient city of Didnauri, to evaluate its significance for understanding the development of complex socio-political organization. Drawing upon archaeological evidence from settlement patterns, fortifications, urban planning, funerary practices, material culture, and regional landscape analysis, the paper argues that the Iori-Alazani interfluve constituted an integrated and hierarchically organized territorial system rather than a collection of isolated communities. Didnauri, covering approximately 35 hectares and enclosed by monumental defensive walls, functioned as the principal administrative, economic, and ritual center within a wider network of fortified and rural settlements. The archaeological record demonstrates increasing social differentiation, centralized resource management, specialized craft production, and long-distance cultural interactions linking eastern Georgia with Anatolia, northern Mesopotamia, and the broader Ancient Near East. These features collectively indicate the emergence of institutions capable of coordinating large-scale labor, territorial administration, and economic organization. The study further argues that the development of social complexity in eastern Georgia resulted from indigenous processes of political centralization, combined with the selective adaptation of external cultural influences, rather than from direct diffusion from established Near Eastern states. By situating the Didnauri settlement system within broader comparative debates on early state formation, the paper highlights the South Caucasus as an active participant in the development of complex societies during the late second and early first millennia BCE. The evidence presented contributes to a reassessment of the origins of statehood beyond the traditional centers of the Ancient Near East and underscores the importance of eastern Georgia in the archaeology of early political organization.
Abstract: The emergence of early state societies in the South Caucasus remains a fundamental issue in Near Eastern archaeology. This study examines the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age settlement system of the Iori-Alazani interfluve in eastern Georgia, with particular emphasis on the recently discovered ancient city of Didnauri, to evaluate its significance for u...
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