Results from new research based on sequencing DNA found on the Shroud have been presented

A study jointly conducted by the University of Padua and the University of Pavia, published in «Scientific Reports», presented the results of new research based on sequencing DNA found on the Shroud.

The Shroud is a linen burial cloth that preserves the frontal and dorsal image of a man bearing evident signs of trauma. For centuries, it has represented an object of historical, religious, and scientific interest. Among the most relevant studies, the radiocarbon dating carried out in 1988 by the laboratories of Oxford, Tucson, and Zurich placed the fabric within an interval between 1260 and 1390 AD. This chronology is consistent with the earliest known iconographic attestation of the Shroud, represented by the devotional medallion of Lirey, datable between 1350 and 1418 AD and preserved at the Musée National du Moyen Âge in Paris.

The metagenomic analyses presented in this study concerned DNA extracted from organic residues of different origins present on fragments officially taken from the Shroud. The results highlight a picture characterized by complex preservation conditions, marked environmental contamination, and the numerous anthropogenic interactions accumulated over the centuries.

Overall, the data obtained constitute an original and significant contribution to Shroud studies. The analysis of the DNA from the official samples collected in 1978 by Professor Baima Bollone made it possible to reconstruct in great detail the set of biological traces deposited on the Shroud over time. In particular, human lineages compatible with populations from Western Eurasia and the Mediterranean area were identified, together with a wide variety of environmental contaminants. Taken together, the evidence makes it possible to systematically outline the genetic imprint resulting from centuries of human, cultural, environmental, and ecological interactions involving the relic.

The study stems from a research project carried out jointly, between September 2022 and December 2025, by the University of Padua (contact person: Professor Gianni Barcaccia) and the University of Pavia (contact person: Professor Alessandro Achilli), with the participation of national and international institutions. In particular, the research analyzed the official collection of samples taken on the night between 8 and 9 October 1978 by Pierluigi Baima Bollone.

As part of the interpretation of the results of the metagenomic analyses, entirely conducted in the laboratory of the University of Padua, Andrea Squartini reports “having found a rich microbiome, including microorganisms typical of human skin and communities of archaea, bacteria, and fungi associated with saline environments.” Giovanni Gabelli, on the other hand, highlights that “we detected DNA from red coral endemic to the Mediterranean, together with genetic traces of cultivated plants (carrot, wheat, maize, banana, peanut) and domestic animals (cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats), indicating multiple biological sources of environmental contamination.” Gianni Barcaccia observes “having found that the faunal and, above all, floristic composition is compatible with contamination occurring in a relatively recent period, not earlier than the Late Middle Ages, and with biological exchanges subsequent to the travels of Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus.”

In conclusion, Barcaccia emphasizes that “this genetic evidence complements, without replacing, the forensic investigations and the historical and radiometric data already available, offering molecular information on preservation and contamination dynamics, while also highlighting the intrinsic limitation of the metagenomic approach: the DNA analyzed represents the superimposition of biological signals accumulated over time and therefore requires caution when attributing historical events or geographic origins to individual genetic findings.”