SHROUDED IN MYSTERY Scientists make shock Shroud of Turin discovery as new evidence suggests burial cloth ‘showing imprint of Jesus’ is REAL

 SCIENTISTS have made a shocking new discovery which suggests a burial cloth claimed to show an imprint of Jesus could be real.

The famed Shroud of Turin - a piece of linen imprinted with the image of a bearded man - has been a mystery for centuries.

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The Shroud of Turin pictured in 1978 shows a brown marking resembling a man some say could be JesusCredit: Reuters

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The linen sheet is now held in a church in TurinCredit: Alamy

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The front and back of the cloth which shows markings of a personCredit: Alamy

Believers claim Jesus was wrapped in the shroud before he was buried and that the image is him, while others have disagreed and branded it a hoax.

But new evidence suggests the cloth was made around 2,000 years ago - the same period when he was said to have lived and died.

Most estimates say Jesus was crucified in AD 33, based on the Julian calendar, Bible passages and gospels from the time - 1,991 years ago.

Italian researchers used specialist x-ray technology to examine the linen sheet and determine its age.The Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council studied eight small samples of fabric to uncover tiny details of the linen's structure and cellulose patterns.

They used specific ageing metrics like temperature and humidity to determine the results.

Researchers in 1988 claimed to have debunked the relic and proved it was from the Middle Ages - hundreds of years after Jesus.

But Dr Liberato De Caro, lead author of the latest study, said the old research - which used carbon dating to estimate the shroud was made between the years 1260 and 1390 - was unreliable.He explained: "Fabric samples are usually subject to all kinds of contamination, which cannot be completely removed from the dated specimen."

The Bible states Joseph of Arimathea was the man who wrapped Jesus' body in linen before placing it in the tombv