An ancient bronze follis minted in Constantinople between AD 969 and 976 bears a facial likeness to the Shroud of Turin's image. Carbon dating in 1988 placed the Shroud between 1260 and 1390 AD, but some researchers argue the tested samples came from medieval repairs. The coin's tiny one-centimeter portrait reproduces a distinctive cross shape formed by the eyebrows, forehead and nose, and includes features such as long hair on one side, a mark on the right cheek, a square beneath the moustache, and a forked beard. These resemblances have led experts to argue the Shroud predates the medieval period.
Carbon dating in 1988 placed the Shroud between 1260 and 1390 AD, seemingly ruling it out as Christ's burial cloth. Some researchers, however, have argued that the tested samples were merely taken from sections of the cloth that had been repaired during that period. Now, a bronze follis minted in Constantinople between AD 969 and 976 bears a striking resemblance to the Shroud's facial image.
'In my opinion, the obvious similarities between the coin and the face on the Shroud of Turin show what the engravers saw in Constantinople [where the Shroud was displayed] in the tenth century,' Robinson, who purchased the coin in 2018, told the Daily Mail. 'If coin engravers were copying the face on the Shroud in the tenth century, then it stands to reason that the Shroud cannot be a late medieval fake,' Robinson said.
'The coin contains a portrait of Jesus with some distinctive features that seem to have been copied directly from the Shroud, including two long locks of hair on the left side of the head. 'I find it particularly hard to understand why the engraver would create an image with hair longer on one side unless he had copied what was believed to be a true likeness of Jesus.'
Collection
[
|
...
]