{"id":62571,"date":"2026-03-23T19:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T18:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/?p=62571"},"modified":"2026-03-23T19:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T18:15:17","slug":"shroud-the-bas-relief-hypothesis-definitively-debunked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2026\/03\/23\/shroud-the-bas-relief-hypothesis-definitively-debunked\/","title":{"rendered":"Shroud: The Bas-Relief Hypothesis Definitively Debunked"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-132189\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sindone_bassorilievo-1.webp\" alt=\"Shroud bas-relief Cicero Moraes\" width=\"600\" height=\"315\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>The journal <strong>&#8220;Archaeometry&#8221;<\/strong> has published a detailed and definitive response to the research of <strong>Cicero Moraes<\/strong> regarding the hypothesis of a <mark><strong>bas-relief<\/strong><\/mark> being at the origin of the Shroud.<\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-128444 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/alessandro_piana-2.webp\" alt=\"Alessandro Piana\" width=\"171\" height=\"194\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">by<br \/>\n<b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2013\/08\/10\/uccr-editorial-staff-and-contributors\/#piana\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alessandro Piana*<\/a><\/b><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n*<i>Scholar and international specialist on the Shroud<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All those who follow this blog will well remember the media attention surrounding the <strong>Shroud<\/strong> that emerged last summer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The occasion was the <b><u><em><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/arcm.70030\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a><\/em><\/u><\/b> published in the journal <i>Archaeometry<\/i> by Brazilian designer <mark><strong>Cicero Moraes<\/strong><\/mark>, whose first critical review at the global level appeared <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/08\/03\/was-the-shroud-laid-on-a-sculpture-a-study-full-of-errors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on this very site<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, written by the author of these notes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the interest of academic debate, together with <strong>Emanuela Marinelli<\/strong> and <strong>Tristan Casabianca<\/strong>\u2014two researchers well known to those who follow the events surrounding the Turin Shroud\u2014we decided to prepare a commentary supported by a solid body of bibliographic references, which has recently <u><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/arcm.70109\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">been published<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/u> in the same journal.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Stay updated by <strong>subscribing<\/strong> to our new channels:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VbBFa0m9hXF1g4wrUT0z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-132039\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/whatsapp.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"74\" height=\"75\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/uccr_news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-132040\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/telegram.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"74\" height=\"73\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Shroud and bas-relief: a flawed study<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The paper assesses whether the claims made by the <strong>Brazilian researcher<\/strong> are actually supported by the established evidence regarding the Shroud.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moraes\u2019 partial digital reconstruction of the Turin Shroud does not support the <strong>bas-relief<\/strong> hypothesis, whether of medieval origin or otherwise.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In our view, this study\u2014based on ambiguous objectives, <strong>methodological flaws<\/strong>, fallacious reasoning, and the omission of essential features of the artifact\u2014<strong>fails<\/strong> to advance research into understanding the image formation process.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">First of all, as already highlighted at the time, the <strong>ambiguity<\/strong> of the study\u2019s objective becomes apparent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What is presented as a \u201cstrictly methodological\u201d approach actually falls short in many respects: approximations regarding anatomical accuracy, the inversion of the actual position of the hands and feet, and the omission of the dorsal image are only the most significant issues.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Not to mention other aspects such as the presence of blood, the extreme superficiality of the image, and the absence of any image beneath the bloodstains.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All characteristics that even <strong>the most recent findings<\/strong> have shown to be the main difficulty in attempting to reproduce all the features of the cloth, even with the most advanced technological tools available.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The questionable choices of Cicero Moraes<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Secondly, we have already discussed the <strong>questionable choice<\/strong> to rely solely on features derived from Giuseppe Enrie\u2019s photograph (taken in 1931), rather than using more recent ones (such as those by Giandurante in 2002).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As well as the decision to run the simulation using the parameters of a <strong>\u201cgeneric cotton\u201d<\/strong> instead of linen, and completely omitting the existence of a supporting surface for the body, which appears to be floating in the air.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Not to mention the arbitrary choice to <strong>reduce the bas-relief<\/strong> used to one quarter of its original size.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Methodological flaws and omissions<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A number of observations also concern the <strong>radiocarbon test results<\/strong>, which, according to Moraes, <i>\u201cconverged significantly.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In reality, statistical analyses carried out in recent years (<u><b><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/228991518_A_robust_statistical_analysis_of_the_1988_Turin_Shroud_radiocarbon_dating_results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/em><\/b><\/u> and <b><u><i><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/arcm.12467\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/i><\/u><\/b>) show a significant <strong>heterogeneity<\/strong> in the 1988 results, which consequently calls into question the reliability of the procedure used to determine the age of the Shroud.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Likewise, some recently published research on <strong>alternative methods of dating<\/strong> textiles is completely omitted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There is also no shortage of remarks regarding the selection of bibliographic references more aligned with the hypothesis of a medieval origin of the Shroud, <strong>omitting<\/strong> some interesting lines of research that have emerged <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/2025\/05\/24\/sindone-prove-storiche-nel-1204-ne-parlo-innocenzo-iii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in recent years<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, as well as the choice not to consider certain hypotheses regarding the mechanism of image formation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In conclusion, in the opinion of the author, Moraes\u2019 work merely demonstrates how approaches characterized by <strong>preconceptions and methodological bias<\/strong> are often the most appreciated by a certain type of mass media, especially when dealing with the Shroud.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Follow the author&#8217;s blog: <u><b><i><mark><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/category\/alessandro-piana\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SINDONE insights<\/a><\/mark><\/i><\/b><\/u><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cArchaeometry\u201d publishes a detailed response to Cicero Moraes\u2019 study on the bas-relief hypothesis behind the Shroud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":178,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1680,2],"tags":[2170,463,482,2171],"class_list":["post-62571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alessandro-piana","category-news","tag-cicero-moraes","tag-shroud","tag-shroud-autenticy","tag-shroud-bass-relief"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shroud: The Bas-Relief Hypothesis Definitively Debunked - UCCR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cArchaeometry\u201d publishes a detailed response to Cicero Moraes\u2019 study on the bas-relief hypothesis behind the Shroud.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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