Joe Rogan on history: what the evidence says · JRE #2254
SUBJECT: HISTORY
The short answer
Rogan reads aloud a study claiming new dating work suggests the Shroud of Turin could be a 2,000-year-old relic consistent with Jesus' era. Rogan read from a 2022 paper published in the journal Heritage (De Caro et al.) that applied a non-standard X-ray scattering method (WAXS) to a single shroud fiber sample and reported an age range consistent with roughly 2,000 years, framing this as compatible with a first-century origin.
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
So it says study published in the journal heritage. The authors conducted dating work on a sample from the shroud coming to the conclusion that it may be a 2000 year old relic.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Rogan read from a 2022 paper published in the journal Heritage (De Caro et al.) that applied a non-standard X-ray scattering method (WAXS) to a single shroud fiber sample and reported an age range consistent with roughly 2,000 years, framing this as compatible with a first-century origin. This omits the most widely accepted scientific dating of the shroud: a 1988 radiocarbon dating study, published in Nature in 1989, in which three independent laboratories (Oxford, Arizona, and Zurich) concurred that the linen dated to approximately AD 1260-1390, placing its origin in the medieval period rather than antiquity. The 2022 WAXS study has not been replicated by independent laboratories, used a single fiber sample rather than the multi-lab cross-checked approach of the 1988 study, and its methodology and small sample size have drawn skepticism from other researchers in the field. The scientific consensus, anchored by the peer-reviewed and multiply-replicated 1988 radiocarbon findings, continues to favor a medieval origin for the shroud; the 2022 study represents a contested minority finding rather than a settled revision of that consensus.