Overview
- A University of Padova team reported in a bioRxiv preprint that reanalysis of 1978 Shroud of Turin samples recovered a wide DNA mix, including about 38–40% of human sequences assigned to Indian lineages.
- The authors say the signal could reflect yarn or linen sourced near the Indus Valley or later contact with people of South Asian ancestry, and they note the cloth carries DNA from many eras.
- The samples also contained genetic traces from multiple humans, domestic and wild animals, fish, common crops such as carrots and wheat, New World plants like potatoes and peanuts, and skin bacteria consistent with frequent handling.
- Outside experts question linking the cloth’s origin to India, pointing to contamination risks and to 1988 radiocarbon dating that placed the linen between 1260 and 1390 CE.
- The shroud’s documented history begins in 14th‑century France and it is now kept in Turin, so independent replication and peer review would be needed before revising its accepted medieval provenance.