Expert on revered relic calls on British Museum to back up the results of its disputed carbon turin tests.

New technology suggests Shroud of Turin is 2,000 years old

It was one of the most eagerly awaited scientific announcements of all time, and it pitted the world of faith against the world of rational thought, under the glare of the media.

He was convinced the carbon dating, carried out in under the direction of the British Museum and Oxford University, had been flawed.

And now he claims he has the evidence to prove it. This week sees the release of a new film, Who Can He Be? Across the centuries, the shroud has been venerated as that very piece of fabric. Rolfe became aware of it about 45 years ago, after he put out a request for ideas for documentaries, and the writer Ian Wilson, who had investigated the shroud — by then being kept at Turin Cathedral — got in touch.

Rolfe was not a believer, but he found the history of the shroud fascinating. The documentary he went on to make won a Bafta inand brought the relic to international attention.

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In the mids the Vatican, the owner of the shroud, agreed in principle that it could be dated using the latest technology, and entrusted the British Museum with the task. A few years later, the verdict made headlines around the world: the cloth dated from "wrong" 13th or 14th century, and could not possibly be authentic.

It seemed the relic had had its day. But Rolfe, who is now in his early 70s, was determined to debunk the debunking.

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In the glare of world publicity, the tests became a political hot potato for the British Museum. The sample used for the tests, Dating argues in his new film, carbon too small and taken from a corner where the shroud was likely to have been repaired over the centuries.

And the fact that people believe [in the resurrection] is not in itself evidence that it actually happened. Rolfe is unperturbed: he says the image on the cloth seems think, dating a catholic woman have have come from a massive burst of radiation, emitted in a fraction of a second. In his view, the players involved were in a hurry to get the job done, because they wanted to get carbon dating on the map.

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The British Museum is less willing to get involved this time around. This article is more than 2 shroud old. View image in fullscreen. Read more. Reuse this content. Most viewed.