Vanillin Dating
In 2005, the distinguished American chemist Ray Rogers, published a paper which documented his research into a chemical method of estimating the age of linen. This innovative new technique involved an examination of the lignin found in flax fibres. Lignin is the substance which gives cell walls of plants their rigidity and Rogers knew that vanillin was present in the lignin of newly harvested flax fibres. Lignin slowly loses its vanillin over time and Rogers calculated that after 700 years, only 37% of the original vanillin would remain. After 1300 years, flax would have lost all but 5% of its vanillin.
He examined Shroud fibres and although he found patches of lignin when viewed under a microscope, there was no trace of vanillin. He obtained similar results when testing samples of linen that were found with the 2000 year old Dead Sea Scrolls. In contrast, samples of medieval linen all showed the presence of vanillin, just as his calculations had predicted.
On the basis of these tests, Rogers concluded that the Shroud must be at least 1300 years old, which is more than 600 years older than the radiocarbon date. His research paper which docuemented these and other related findings findings was peer-reviewed and published in the Thermochimica Acta journal.
The following links provide further information on this research
Carbon 14 Dating Invalidated? An article by Mark Guscin published in BSTS Newsletter No. 61, June 2005
Studies on the Radiocarbon Sample from the Shroud of Turin. Research paper by Raymond N. Rogers published in Thermochimica Acta 425 (2005) pp 189-194
