Burial Shroud Research Articles

Dark Deeds, Broken Bodies

In the year 250/864–65, Baghdad’s governor Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṭāhir ordered the defilement of a prisoner’s corpse and grave site. The prisoner, Isḥāq b. Jināḥ, had been a criminal magistrate serving the rebel leader Yaḥyā b. ʿUmar, who had led a failed revolt in Kufa against the Abbasid caliphate (132–650/750–1258). According to the fourth/tenth-century historian al-Iṣbahānī, the governor demanded that the deceased Isḥāq b. Jināh not receive a funerary prayer, corpse-washing, or a burial shroud. Moreover, he ordered the corpse to be immersed in water in a grave and buried at a Jewish ruin. The governor’s intentional neglect of proper Islamic funerary rituals is shocking but not entirely surprising. Medieval Islamic political chronicles, biographical dictionaries, and social commentaries abound with darkly salacious reports of corpse neglect and even violence, shining a light on the efforts of the living to affect the dead. Why would anyone seek to “harm” a corpse? And what purpose did medieval Islamic historical narratives of necroaggression serve? This article addresses the narrative power of corpse violence in Greater Iraq during the mid-third/ninth and early fourth/tenth centuries, investigating the political meanings inscribed on bodies unmade by others. Viewing necroaggression as a type of performative political act, the article examines a vibrant polemical discourse that toyed with administrative concerns over coercion as well as popular anxieties over possible sensations experienced postmortem.

Political Demonstrations, Nepali Youths and the Politics of Mourning: A Semiotic Analysis

This paper analyses mainly three representative photographs of the spectacles of mourning as displayed in Fig. 1, 2 and 3 that come to surface during political and social demonstrations in Kathmandu and other towns occasionally. Such spectacles used by political parties and social activists include clean-shaved-head, white linen clothes, burial shroud, bamboo bier, and fire. Together, they give a picture that a mock funeral of Hindu order is being staged. My major concern is to answer these questions: Why do Nepali youths stage such semiotics of sad worldview at times when their transitional politics and society is often praised for being dynamic? Why do they bring such religiously subjective and familial spectacles into the public ripened with politics? I argue in the line of argument developed by political philosophers Friedrich Hegel and Slavoj Zizek and psychoanalysts like Sigmund Freud and Carl G. Jung to reach a conclusion that such spectacles evoke the complex state of Nepali youths’ political subjectivity. While staging such mock funerals, they stage their helplessness of being youths of a donor-depended and Hindu patriarchal nation that has been going through transitional politics.

Preventive Healthcare System and Religious Rites of Burial During Pandemic: A Comparison between Jewish and Islamic Rituals

Many funeral guidelines and regulations were imposed during the COVID-19 restriction movement to control the risk of Corona spreading, such as maintaining social distance and indoor and outdoor safe gatherings. Due to the high risk of contagion, some religious rites were avoided, like the gathering of many comforters, taking the farewell look at the deceased, and almost cancelling the decrees of religious burial and grief, which are spiritual remedies for those who lost their loved ones. Since both Judaism and Islam forbid cremation, the burial rites should be strictly monitored, and the decision to hold a modified mourning tribute for the deceased must be taken cautiously and in cooperation with the competent medical authority. But how does the new funeral regulation coincide with religious values? And how could Jewish and Islamic traditions about washing the infected deceased’s body, burial shroud, coffin, cemetery, initial mourning period, and other customs be preventive healthcare instructions? This article is attempting to answer these questions in light of Biblical and Quranic teachings.

The Species and Purpose of the ‘Young Man’ in Mark 14 and 16

This article presents evidence that the νεανίσκος, “young man”, referred to in Mark 16 is intended to be read as a human being rather than as an angel. Matthew’s and Luke’s use of Mark 16 is examined to show that they too understood Mark in this way and chose to edit the text to replace the young man with one or two angels. Reading Mark 16 in this way elicits an easier linkage with the young man in Mark 14, and it is suggested that the author intended for such a connection to be made. Following Robin Scroggs and Kent Groff, this connection leads to the suggestion that the stripping and reclothing of the young man in Mark 14 and 16 is an allegory of baptism. Further evidence of this is presented in a tentative suggestion about the liturgical origins of some of Mark 16, and the observation that the word for the clothing worn by and taken from the young man in Mark 14 is only ever used elsewhere in the New Testament for the burial shroud of Jesus.

The concealed interment of a first‐trimester foetus in Gällared Parish Church (1831), Sweden: Age estimation and reconstructed taphonomy

AbstractIn 2015, during architectural restoration works on the parish church (1831) in Gällared, Sweden, a small wooden box was discovered beneath the floorboards. Unaware of the possible significance of the box and its contents, workers on site removed its lid, revealing a piece of folded cloth. This was later found to be wrapped around fragments of human foetal remains. Although largely forgotten now, concealed interment of foetuses in, and around, churches was formally a well‐known custom in Nordic Europe. Osteological and archaeological examinations of these are rare because the containers are recognised as a form of mortuary ritual and are thus neither removed from the church nor investigated for obvious ethical reasons. The occasion of this providentially found concealed interment provided an opportunity to undertake a systematic study of the coffin and its contents prior to it being reinterred. This paper focuses on the foetal remains: their identification, assessment of age at death and the taphonomic circumstances leading to their preservation, as well as the broader insights this funerary behaviour sheds on the meanings of personhood, infant death and grief. Visual and microscopic analyses conclude that the foetus was miscarried in its first trimester, in Week 9, making it possibly one of the youngest ever reported to be recovered from an archaeological context. Examination of the skeletal elements highlights both the difficulty in ageing early‐stage archaeological foetal skeletons and the paucity of comparative foetal bone size material. The onset of ossification and the development of the mandible as ageing indicators show significant potential. Detailed examination of the wooden coffin, cotton burial shroud and insect fauna, together with an understanding of foetal body chemistry and the circumstances of interment, support the hypothesis that the bones' survival was facilitated by a process of natural mummification prior to becoming fully skeletonised by insects.

Hard to pin down – clothing pins in the Eastern Delta of Egypt and their diffusion in the Middle Bronze Age

So-called ‘toggle pins’ are a common find, not only in the Middle, but already in the Early Bronze Age. When found in tombs, they can accompany males and females and the common opinion is that they held together a burial shroud, or specifically the garment of the deceased. The first metal toggle pins appear in the Chalcolithic Period, mainly in south-eastern Anatolia. They became common in Syro-Mesopotamia from the middle of the Early Bronze Age onwards. Most of the earliest examples are unperforated, but a few perforated specimens are attested already from the end of the 4th millennium BCE. Clothing pins were introduced into the southern Levant at the end of the Early Bronze Age, but perforated pins are few in number, getting common only at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age and are then widely diffused in the region until the end of the period. Plain pins and pins with cylindrical heads and ribbed decoration are the most common types at Tell el-Dabʿa and the rest of the Eastern Delta, where pins do not show as much variety as those from the southern Levant. In all, forms are quite comparable and spread across a wide area, which is not astonishing as the shape is designed for a specific practical use. Nonetheless, distinct forms, decorations or materials might point to a common cultural background of the owners, especially as clothing pins are an entirely non-Egyptian type of object.

Вопросы интерпретации костыльков-кочедыков населения Верхнего Приобья эпохи раннего железа

Purpose. The work is devoted to functional, ceremonial and cultural-historical interpretation of the so-called kočidykcrutches often found at the sites belonging to various cultures of the steppe belt of Eurasia and popular during the Early Iron Age. The aim of our study is to describe different interpretations of this group of finds. We considered the accumulated historiographical experience and also tried to model experimentally the functional use of the artifacts analyzed. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the possibility of referring to these materials from the point of view of the hypothesis of multiculturalism. We discuss a number of variants how to reconstruct the functional use of this category of finds. In particular, the crutches considered could have been used as suspensions and as belt fasteners. Results. We noticed that regardless of the sex of the buried people, the location of the crutches in graves is the same, i. e. they are found on the right or left side, at least two on the femur or pelvic bones of the skeleton if the buried person had a belt and it was buttoned, and on the chest, knees or feet, if the belt was unbuttoned and was lying along the body. The crutches can either be a part of the complex, or the only element of the waist fittings that indirectly points to a certain self–sufficiency of crutches as a part of the burial shroud. There are controversial interpretations of the ceremonial meaning of the artifacts. Based on the hypothesis of multiculturalism of the population of the Upper Ob River region during the Early Iron Age, we provide some new cultural and historical interpretations of the crutches. A variety of types of crutches confirms the assumption that within the existence of the subject complex of clothing worn by the population of the Upper Ob River region in the second half of the I Millennium BC, there were clear signs of innovations. Conclusion. Studying the range of issues associated with the interpretation of crutches remains a relevant and promising task in archaeological research. Further accumulation of material and its understanding in a broader rather than narrow territorial context might allow us to identify the centers of distribution of certain types of crutches and the processes of their trans cultural incorporation into the traditional use by the population of the Upper Ob River region in the Early Iron Age.

Enzymatic laundry for old clothes: immobilized alpha-amylase from Bacillus sp. for the biocleaning of an ancient Coptic tunic.

The classification and conservation of ancient artworks (belonging to collections) is of important cultural, historical, and economic concern. However, ancient textiles often display structural damage that renders them fragile and unsuitable for exhibition. One of the most common types of damage is linked to erroneous restoration treatments, among which the application of glues to consolidate cuts. Harsh strategies, such as mechanical or chemical treatments, are not suitable since they can cause further impairment of the fabric, whereas mild approaches, like wet cleaning, are often ineffective, as also demonstrated by the present study. Here, we have explored the possibility of using gellan-immobilized enzymes of bacterial origin (Bacillus alpha-amylase) to obtain a satisfactory starch removal from a damaged archaeological tunic-shroud from the Turin Egyptian Museum (Italy), without altering the original yarns or textile fibers. This method, already applied to clean casein-damaged wall paintings, as well as cotton, silk, and linen fabrics, has proved to be optimal for the treatment of a wool burial shroud and to be able to definitively solve fragile textile restoration problems. Moreover, efforts have been made to obtain insights into the artwork: a multidisciplinary approach has allowed to obtain a correct chronological attribution (radiocarbon dating) and fabric fiber characterization (SEM-EDX) as well as shed light on the colored parts and dark stains (FORS+IRFC and XRF). Finally, the evaluation of the type of glue, by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, has suggested the best enzyme for glue removal. These results have demonstrated that a mild bio-based approach is a successful tool for the treatment of archaeological textiles in critical conditions.

Ancient Cannabis Burial Shroud in a Central Eurasian Cemetery

An extraordinary cache of ancient, well-preserved Cannabis plant remains was recently discovered in a tomb in the Jiayi cemetery of Turpan, NW China. Radiometric dating of this tomb and the archeobotanical remains it contained indicate that they are approximately 2800–2400 years old. Both morphological and anatomical features support the identification of the plant remains as Cannabis. Research discussed in this paper describes 13 nearly whole plants of Cannabis that appear to have been locally produced and purposefully arranged and used as a burial shroud which was placed upon a male corpse. This unique discovery provides new insight into the ritualistic use of Cannabis in prehistoric Central Eurasia. Furthermore, the fragmented infructescences of Cannabis discovered in other tombs of the Jiayi cemetery, together with similar Cannabis remains recovered from coeval tombs in the ancient Turpan cemetery along with those found in the Altai Mountains region, reveal that Cannabis was used by the local Central Eurasian people for ritual and/or medicinal purposes in the first millennium before the Christian era.

Quantitative determinations and imaging in different structures of buried human bones from the XVIII-XIXth centuries by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence – Postmortem evaluation

In this work, a non-commercial triaxial geometry energy dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) setup and a benchtop µ-XRF system were used to identify postmortem contamination in buried bones. For two of the individuals, unusually high concentrations of Cu and Pb, but also Zn (in one individual) were observed. The pigments of the burial shroud coverings have been identified as the source of contamination.Accurate and precise quantitative results were obtained by nondestructive process using fundamental parameters method taking into account the matrix absorption effects.A total of 30 bones from 13 individuals, buried between the mid-XVIIIth to early XIXth centuries, were analyzed to study the elemental composition and elemental distribution. The bones were collected from a church in Almada (Portugal), called Ermida do Espírito Santo, located near the Tagus River and at the sea neighbourhood.The triaxial geometry setup was used to quantify Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, Sr and Pb of powder pressed bone pellets (n=9 for each bone). Cluster analysis was performed considering the elemental concentrations for the different bones. There was a clear association between some bones regarding Fe, Cu, Zn, Br and Pb content but not a categorization between cortical and trabecular bones. The elemental distribution of Cu, Zn and Pb were assessed by the benchtop μ-analysis, the M4 Tornado, based on a polycapillary system which provides multi-elemental 2D maps. The results showed that contamination was mostly on the surface of the bone confirming that it was related to the burial shroud covering the individuals.

Molecular Exploration of the First-Century Tomb of the Shroud in Akeldama, Jerusalem

The Tomb of the Shroud is a first-century C.E. tomb discovered in Akeldama, Jerusalem, Israel that had been illegally entered and looted. The investigation of this tomb by an interdisciplinary team of researchers began in 2000. More than twenty stone ossuaries for collecting human bones were found, along with textiles from a burial shroud, hair and skeletal remains. The research presented here focuses on genetic analysis of the bioarchaeological remains from the tomb using mitochondrial DNA to examine familial relationships of the individuals within the tomb and molecular screening for the presence of disease. There are three mitochondrial haplotypes shared between a number of the remains analyzed suggesting a possible family tomb. There were two pathogens genetically detected within the collection of osteological samples, these were Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae. The Tomb of the Shroud is one of very few examples of a preserved shrouded human burial and the only example of a plaster sealed loculus with remains genetically confirmed to have belonged to a shrouded male individual that suffered from tuberculosis and leprosy dating to the first-century C.E. This is the earliest case of leprosy with a confirmed date in which M. leprae DNA was detected.

Unravelling the Shroud for Laertes and Weaving the Fabric of the City: Kingship and Politics in Homer’s Odyssey

Building on the work of Scheid and Svenbro (Craft of Zeus, 1996) regarding the political significance of weaving in Greek literature, this essay attempts to proffer the Odyssey’s political teaching through an interpretation of Penelope’s wily weaving of the burial shroud for the former king, Laertes. Homeric scholars have often noted the multiple oddities surrounding the shroud; few critics have noted the peculiarity of the dethroned Laertes. In spite of recent attempts by scholars such as Halverson, ‘The Succession Issue in the Odyssey’ (1986), to discredit political interpretations of the Odyssey as well as Homer’s understanding of kingship, I contend that Homer is presenting the institution in a state of transition. The shroud for Laertes will thus provide an interpretive key for narrating both the change of office enacted by Odysseus’ rule and the new political order formed at the end of the Odyssey.

They Shall Wear Fringes

The multiple functions of clothes include utility, protection, rivalry, disguise, camouflage, display for seduction purposes, aggression, totemism, and status. Here the focus is on a decorative and distinctive hierarchical aspect of ancient dress, the tsitsit or fringes, whose original function is long absent, but that has endured for 3,500 years in Judaism. The beginning of their use beyond the totemic appears related to issues of changing identity from slavery to liberty, endowing noble status, exhibitionism, a symbol of identity, identification with the aggressor, a talisman, and potency. It is conceptualized that they became a symbol, or a specifier, that helped promote group cohesion in ex-slaves who were frightened, dependent, anxious, and not hopeful about their future. The tsitsit aided the development of a new identity and made all Israelites equal and noble to the observer. The durability of this symbol to the present is evident in its daily wear, as an accompaniment to daily prayers, as well as in its use as a burial shroud for males. It appears that the tsitsit have additional multiple functions. These are the promise of oral and genital satisfaction, and the pleasure of the after-life, superego warnings and control of sexual impulses, protection, survival value, and affirmation. Since they offer sublimation with acceptable gratification of instincts, the tsitsit have become ritualized and endure.

The Mystery of the Turin Shroud

Abstract In 1355, or close thereto, a 3-foot wide and 14-foot long linen cloth suddenly appeared in history. Greeted rapturously by millions of Christians, it has maintained its acceptance as the true Shroud of Christ from 1300 years earlier. In 1978, a group of about 30 U.S. scientists and engineers studied the Shroud in great detail. All but one concluded the cloth is the burial Shroud of Christ.

Rumors fly about dating of Shroud of Turin

In the latest of a series of rumors circulating about the radiocarbon dating tests on the Shroud of Turin, a London newspaper has reported that scientists at Oxford University have found that the cloth dates from about 1350 AD—far too recent for it to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. But researchers who are actually taking part in carbon-14 dating of samples of the cloth refuse to confirm or deny the report, saying they are pledged to secrecy until the Archbishop of Turin releases the results later this month. The Shroud of Turin is a large piece of linen bearing the life-size yellowish image of a man who appears to have been beaten and crucified. Darker stains on the fabric at the man's feet, hands, and side look like blood from wounds. The cloth has been claimed to be the burial shroud of Jesus since it first surfaced in 14th-century France. Controversy over its ...

Science and the Shroud of Turin

A famous piece of cloth-believed by many to be the burial shroud of Jesus-undergoes a series of thorough examinations at the hands of highly trained physical scientists.