Paper Chase: Max Patrick Hamon on the Coin-on-Eye Issue
As a comment, Max Patrick Hamon has offered the first page of a paper he presented at the Toruń Acheiropoietos Conference 2011 in Toruń, Poland:
TURIN SHROUD: THE THIRD SIDE OF THE COIN-ON-EYE ISSUE
Or
A Full Reappraisal of Intriguing Tiny Bloodstain PatternsBy Max Patrick HAMON
Resume: The present paper assumes that its readers have an elementary acquaintance with the Turin Shroud. It begins by defining the coin-on-eye issue and determining the real problem. In a preliminary approach to evaluate the quality of both arch-sceptics and arch-advocates’ main opinions and reasoning, it demonstrates the need to apply to the suspected eye areas, the strict methodology of an eidomatico-numismatic reading grid based on the bloodstain pattern analytical technique. It then proceeds to a full reappraisal of possible coin impressions left on the said areas. Finally, in the light of the new observations and findings, it considers the necessity to integrate the new data within a more coherent archaeological framework.
Through mere repetition from one author to the other and via a couple of successful websites, many an interpretation, biased result, received idea, pseudo-theory and half truth have become quasi-facts and even at times quasi-dogmas in Shroud literature of all persuasions.
In connection with the famous linen cloth, the coin-on-eye issue is no exception to this general state of things. For over three decades, arch-advocates adamantly have been thinking they see coin images on the eye areas while arch-sceptics, just as adamantly, have been thinking they do not. Even among “pro-coin-on-eye” researchers, interpretative discrepancies are observed for each eye area. As an archaeocryptologist i.e. as an ancient enigmatic image, inscription and artefact analyst and cryptanalyst, the issue did pique my curiosity. Are the coin images just mere “figures in clouds” or are they real? Could the problem objectively be ever solved?
In this light, both proponents and opponents must be reminded that there may be a very fine line between “I think I see coin images” and “I think I don’t see coin images”, depending on five crucial parameters: first and foremost, quality of material (is it biased or unbiased?); secondly conditions for observations (are the tools and technique appropriate?); thirdly observer’s particular field or fields of expertise (is s/he the right or the wrong expert/is s/he speaking inside or outside her/his own field or fields of expertise?); fourthly and fifthly observer’s personal approach and vulnerability (is s/he making use or non-use of inductive reasoning/is s/he the victim of intersubjectivity, unconscious and/or ideological biases in the recording, analysis and/or cryptanalysis of data?).
In order to get out of the research dead-end, I think it is essential now to go beyond the “pro-and anti-coin-on-eye” dichotomy. One must be fully aware that those who claim the ability to identify the presence or the absence of coin impressions left on the Shroud (a theologian, a psychiatrist, a medical doctor, an amateur scholar of numismatics or coin collector, a technical photographer, a church historian, a mathematician, a linguist, a lawyer, a laser physicist or engineer for instance) are definitely not the best qualified Shroud researchers to analyze and/or cryptanalyze ancient images and inscriptions. How can anyone of them turn into a professional numismatist, an archaeological analyst or cryptanalyst overnight? It does take extensive data-analysis and/or -cryptanalysis before you acquire the proper eye-and-brain. Without such a trained eye-and-brain for forms, how can a non-specialist, credibly discriminate between misspelling, misreading and non univocal forms; between mere “figures in clouds” and genuine palaeographic information embedded in visual background noise and random shapes?
From an archaeocryptologist’s perspective, the present paper aims therefore at making a full reappraisal of intriguing patterns on the eye areas in an attempt to surface more real facts and reach an illuminating synthesis no matter which side of the Shroud authenticity the coin-on-eye issue may fall.
Without reading the full paper, I don’t know what to say. I am not even “a theologian, a psychiatrist, a medical doctor, an amateur scholar of numismatics or coin collector, a technical photographer, a church historian, a mathematician, a linguist, a lawyer, a laser physicist or engineer.” Even so, (and absent this paper) I have been able weigh the evidence put before me. I have seen what I understand might be fragmentary identification of certain coins but I also understand why much of what I see is possibly, if not probably, visual noise. I am open to being convinced that sufficiently identifiable parts of coin images exist that are not possibly visual noise. In the meantime, however, I am sufficiently convinced that the coin images are not there to “believe” that they are not there.
The eyes shown here are from a Vern Miller photograph as it appeared in National Geographic (June 1980, page 753). Fr. Frank Filas claimed he saw a coin in the right eye. To my knowledge no one else has identified a coin image in this or any other photograph other than the non-digitally enhanced version of a 1931 photograph by Enrie.
Leave a Reply
Is the Shroud real? Probably.
The Shroud of Turin may be the real burial cloth of Jesus. The carbon dating, once seemingly proving it was a medieval fake, is now widely thought of as suspect and meaningless. Even the famous Atheist Richard Dawkins admits it is controversial. Christopher Ramsey, the director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Laboratory, thinks more testing is needed. So do many other scientists and archeologists. This is because there are significant scientific and non-religious reasons to doubt the validity of the tests. Chemical analysis, all nicely peer-reviewed in scientific journals and subsequently confirmed by numerous chemists, shows that samples tested are chemically unlike the whole cloth. It was probably a mixture of older threads and newer threads woven into the cloth as part of a medieval repair. Recent robust statistical studies add weight to this theory. Philip Ball, the former physical science editor for Nature when the carbon dating results were published, recently wrote: “It’s fair to say that, despite the seemingly definitive tests in 1988, the status of the Shroud of Turin is murkier than ever.” If we wish to be scientific we must admit we do not know how old the cloth is. But if the newer thread is about half of what was tested – and some evidence suggests that – it is possible that the cloth is from the time of Christ.
No one has a good idea how front and back images of a crucified man came to be on the cloth. Yes, it is possible to create images that look similar. But no one has created images that match the chemistry, peculiar superficiality and profoundly mysterious three-dimensional information content of the images on the Shroud. Again, this is all published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
We simply do not have enough reliable information to arrive at a scientifically rigorous conclusion. Years ago, as a skeptic of the Shroud, I came to realize that while I might believe it was a fake, I could not know so from the facts. Now, as someone who believes it is the real burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth, I similarly realize that a leap of faith over unanswered questions is essential.
My name is Dan Porter. Please email me at DanielRobertPorter@gmail.com
M.P. Hamon was at the Frascati (Italy) conference in May 2010. An extended abstract of his presentation (in English) may be seen here:
http://www.acheiropoietos.info/abstracts/poster.html
Here too, the subject is about the coins over the eyes.
I copy the unusual credentials of Hamon:
“Former professor at the University of Riyadh (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
Founder and director of LE CERCle (Office for Studies and Research in Cryptology), Reze (France)
Independent researcher in Late Antique and Medieval archaeoperceptive cryptology”
His address was in France.
Jesus with pagan coins over the eyes waiting to pay his due to cross the Styx river… If those coins are there (and, by the way, only a chemist could confirm this or not) this is the meaning of this finding ! Can you believe this ? Knowing that Jesus and all his followers and family were pious Jews, I can only say that it don’t make any sense. When it comes to judge of something like this that don’t have a real true scientific confirmation, I always use my logic to weigh the pros and cons. And in this case (and it’s the same thing for the flowers and the ghost writings), I came to the conclusion that there is more cons. Sorry.
But, nevermind what I think or what you people think about this, nobody can be really sure about this question until a chemical test could be perform on a sample that come from the eyes area… Period. We can scratch our backs all we want on this topic, we will never solve this question. Only a chemist could. Let’s wait… I think Ron will agree with me this time.
I am afraid that a chemical analysis of the eyes’ area of the Shroud could not give any clue at all, since that would imply that some transfer of metalic matter from the “coins” to the Shroud’s fibers took place. Something impossible. In my opinion, the only analysis that could throw some light is the high resolution images analyzed in a reproducible way according to the state of the art as admitted by the scientific community and not following any other more “creative” way, something that unfortunately, we have seen in too many occasions……But chemistry is a discipline that cannot help in this issue. Coming to the plasubility of the coins being put on the eyes of the Messiah, there is a great controversy regarding the influence of the greek culture at that time. I wouldn`t rule it out completely that such a costume was so widely spred among pagans and jews too that for the last had lost its pagan meaning and only reflected perhaps some kind of respect towards the dead person. We see that in Western countries with christian roots, non-christians (muslims, hindis, jews…) ALSO buy presents for their families in Christmas. I mean, something that started as something religious has become purely cultural and common to all. But I don`t want to go too far with this because I am not sure at all and I am just hypotethisezing .
I think a chemical analysis would be necessary to know the truth about those so-called images of coins and flowers. At least, a chemical analysis done properly (along with a microscopic and spectral analysis) could tell us if the fibers of the eyes area are colored the same exact way than the colored fibers from other image areas on the Shroud. If the fibers presents the same spectral and chemical characteristics (same yellow-straw color, same superficiality, same spectral characteristics, etc.), that could mean, for the eyes, that it’s not coins at all but just the eyeballs that produced those images… Or maybe a chemical analysis (along with a microscopic and spectral analysis) could find a different kind of coloration. If it would be the case, then, the hypothesis of an image other than a body image could be more realistic… You see, chemical analysis are always interesting in those kind of questions… Just analysing an image is dangerous because of the misinterpretations that could happened, even if it’s a HD image and even if it’s a numismatist or a botanist that do the image analysis. That’s what I think…
A chemical analysis could only determine if the composition of the fibres from some section of the Shroud (eyes for example) is different from others. I don`t think that can possibly happen.
A spectral analysis would be part of a comprehensive image analysis, not only in the visible band but also at different UV and IR wavelengths. I mean, this would fall in the realm of Optics if, as I mentioned in my previous post, the whole analysis -which is far too much than discovering “objects”-, is carried out according to the generally admitted scientific standards as described in the scientific literature.
One point which in my opinion should be incorporated into the analysis is a thorough comparison of the spectra from the Shroud and those obtained on linen sheets by Paolo DiLAzzaro using laser beams. In case they showed some similarity, this could throw light on the mechanisms involved in the formation of the image. To summarize, an in-depth optical analysis should go far beyond discovering “objects”.
ned
Yannick, PLEASE, I would like you to be be fully aware of the 2 following facts:
- Symbols can be ambivalent. Whether they are seen through 1st century Roman eyes or Judeans eyes, the symbols on Pilate coins can take up different meanings. Actually, they were designed TO AGREE BOTH Romans and Judeans.
- The incomplete coin impressions I detected and identified on the eye areas are faint carmine to carmine brown tiny blood decals.
First point : Then why the Jews had to change their normal coins to coins without an image of a god or an emperor when they had to pay something in the Temple ??? Another important thing : I don’t see any pious jewish dead man with coins on the eyes simply because it was a PAGAN RITE ! You can twist it all you want, IT WAS A PAGAN RITE…
Second point : Only a chemical test will be able to tell if you are right or wrong on this topic.
its too bad we dont have the hamon paper to read. ohio 08 had the right idea putting all papers online
“I am open to being convinced that sufficiently identifiable parts of coin images exist that are not possibly visual noise. In the meantime, however, I am sufficiently convinced that the coin images are not there to “believe” that they are not there.”(Dan’s quote)
Dan, I wish you had asked me how much credence I give 1979-2008 Filas et al’s coin image extractions. In spite of my deep respect for Filas’, Whanger’s and Moroni’s pioneering work, my answer would have been NONE!
I might even have added: I am convinced “THEIR COIN IMAGES” are not there. Both optically and numismatically speaking I CAN PROVE IT.
However, the whole irony of it is I myself detected and identified incomplete Pilate coin impressions… on the suspected areas. Both optically and numimactically, I do hope it will be convincing even to the uninitiated eye.
Most interesting post by Max. For me at least, this is new!! If I understand well Max, could detect two coin imprints originated from tiny blood stains by directly examinating the Shroud. In my opinion, this puts nows the coins issue at the same level of credibility that the flowers (quite high). The other detection of coins by Filas and the rest came from “creative” analysis of images, which in my opinion makes these detections highly dubtious.
The methodology of “flowers& coins discovering” is what makes Avinoma’s and MAx’s claims quite plausible.
Max, if it’s there, why I don’t see nothing ? I’m not a numistatist but I have a pretty good vision and I know what a coin look like. I repeat : I don’t see nothing (even on the good resolution photos) ! And Dan prove that I’m not alone in this case… Explain this to me.
“I’m sure you can agree with me that the burial ritual wasn’t completed on friday and the women planed to come back on sunday morning to do an anointing of the body.” (Yannick’s quote)
Yannick ALLOW ME to totally disagree with you. I already presented an oral paper on the subject at The 1998 Turin Symposium – June 5-7, 1998. Yeshua’s first burial ritual was completed (he was tightly wrapped up in funerary linens according to the Judean custom). The women’s visit to the tomb on the following Sunday is to be read in the light of a specific Judean tradition which consisted to pay visit to the deceased during the week that followed his death. The use of perfume here was just to prevent bad smells.
If what you just said is correct, then what do you think of this : “The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”
Paying visit to the dead was jewish tradition. Correct. But that don’t mean no way that the people who pay visit to the dead had to ENTER INTO THE TOMB !!! Look at the story of the raising of Lazarus in John’s gospel. Mary ran to see Jesus and all the people who was with her thought that she was going to the tomb again ! This is exactly the tradition right there. Do you beleive one second that Mary had to roll the big stone and enter the tomb to accomplish this ritual ? The people thought that she was going to the tomb… Not enter into the tomb ! There’s an important difference here. If the women had to enter into the tomb on sunday, you can be sure that it was because the burial ritual wasn’t completed on friday… Sorry to disagree again with you.
I forget to wrote the gospel references : For the first quote : Gospel of Luke, chapter 23, verses 55 and 56.
And here’s the second quote : Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 31.
From what I know, the only time that Jews would enter the tomb after the burial rite was one year after that to collect the bones… Beside this procedure, they had no reasons to enter the tomb IF the burial rite was completely done. When you go to see a relative at the cemetary, did you dig out the coffin and open it ?
Barrie Schwortz wrote/told Yannick Clément: “if they did use coins, they certainly would not have put a pagan Caesar coin on the face of the prophesized Messiah!”
Archaeologically speaking, if Pilate coins are pagan objects as Schwortz claims, how could then the American technical photographer account for Second Temple Judean tombs yielding more than three tens of Pilate coins?
Archaeologically speaking, how much credence give Barrie Schwortz ‘s opinion? Is he a literate Hellenistic Judean (liberal Pharisee) of the Second Temple period and a secret
disciple of Yeshua? Is he a Jewish scholar, a historian or an archaeologist of the Second Temple period?
I really think you’re off track here. My friend Barrie Schwortz is a Jew. Maybe he knows 2 or 3 things about his culture !
And how can you explain that only one jewish skull was found with coins in it if it was a normal practice ???
Yannick, you’re REALLY THICK.
This is no news to me Barrie is Jew! Mentioning Jewish origins, you can read my name in the Bible (in the Song of songs). In Hebrew Hamon means “Univers”, “Vast World”.
I could add this to my statement : You don’t have to be a Jew to think like Barrie !!! ;-) I think his argument his very strong against this question of the Pilatus coins.
Ideally, eye areas should be studied under appropriate raking light and alternative lights in conjunction with authentic, 2nd and 3rd generation photographs + 3D images and digital squeezes.
On the contrary Barrie’s arguement is very weak and his opinion not qualified.
Cheap comment completely. How can you say that ?!? You’re far from convincing me with YOUR WEAK points my friend. SORRY. And I don’t care one bit how many diplomas you can have on your wall… You would not be the first “scientist” to have been wrong on something. HOOOOO NOOOOO !!!! Not the first and surely not the last.
To convinced me, first try to find an exact quote from the ancient Jewish litterature (Thora, Talmud, Mishna, etc.) that talk specifically about a general practice of putting pagan coins over the eyes of their dead. That would be a start. I wait for you about that.
Now, we agree on something ! But, please, push also for a chemical test to go along… I think it would be imperative to have both.
Remember: when there are two Jews, there are three opinions!
Non destructive tests do exist to detect blood stains no matter how tiny they are.
But even if a chemical or another test prove that there is blood there, that will not prove that the inscription you claim to have seen are really there ! It’s a problem you will always face when you want to prove something like that…
i still say the weave of the cloth is too coarse to support such detail even if made of blood micro-droplets.
One things for sure, when you deal with small images (and/or faint images) like that, there’s a big room for misinterpretation.
Spy details on ancient coin types “behave” like fingerprints. Body images (resolution limit 0.5cm) should not be mistaken with blood images (resolution limit 0.5mm). Many Shroud researchers (including Barrie Scwortz) makes repeatedly the same confusion. He also totally ignore the thread count per square centimetres. The only snag with Barrie Schwortz’s faulty opinions is that thousands of his website viewers are all too ready to believe him.
If it’s so true Max, then explain to me why Miller and Pellicori in their paper about the analysis of the UV photos of the Shroud have not said a word about possible blood stains (or any word about a possible image of a coin) in the eye region ??? Yet, they were able to detect minute stains of serum and minute scratch-like marks in the scourge marks !!!
TO DO AWAY WITH A RECURRENT RECEIVED IDEA: Pilate coins were “casher”. Should I repeat they were specially designed to abide by the 2nd commandement. A sheperd crook-like shape or a libation bail-like shape are not specifically “pagan” as you mean it. They are neutral symbols in se and did agree with both Romans and Judeans.
By the way, do you know that, accordding to the best etymologists, the words “Caesar” and “Casher” do have the same etymology (it would come from the aramaic “csar”)?
Then, why a “casher” coin like that was not hallowed into the temple by the jewish authorities ??? And you want me to believe that a coin minted by Pilate was not consider sacrilegious by the pious Jews ? Come on !
IF what you say is true, then back up your words with an exact reference coming from ancient jewish litterature or some other reliable sources ! Personally, I’ve never read anything about this idea…
Yannick, you can tell Barrie about it!
I don’t have to because I think he read this blog frequently !!! :)
There are so many received ideas, half-truths, biased observations & results, pseudo-theories about the Shroud that it would take too much of my precious time to list them all here. This is MY LAST POST.
Before going out of this blog, if you’re so sure about your great science, why don’t you give us the exact reference in ancient jewish litterature where it is clearly said that putting coins over the eyes was a normal procedure in ancient jewish burials ? But obviously, YOU CAN’T simply because it ain’t there !
If we summarize this question :
1- There is no exact reference in ancient jewish litterature (Thora, Mishna, Talmud, etc.) about the fact that putting coins over the eyes was a normal procedure in ancient jewish burials.
2- The procedure of putting coins over the eyes (or into the mouth) was a pagan rite and this rite could have been taken as an act of idolatry by the pious jews like the Pharisees.
3- The coins that are claimed to be on the shroud are Roman coins. Those coins were not hallowed in the Temple by the jewish authorities.
4- Jesus and his followers were all pious Jews and not hellenistic jews.
5- The burial rite after Jesus death was only partially done on friday and they had to come back on sunday to do an anointing of the body.
Love it or not, this was the situation on the day of Jesus death. And we can add this fact to the list below : Most of the people who have looked at the shroud images of the eye area HAVE NOT SEEN any images of coins there.
Now, it’s up to you to make up your own mind about this question of the coins. Personally, it’s evident for me that the chances that there are really images of coins over the eyes on the Shroud are close to absolute zero. As I said so many times, anybody is free to believe what he want. But please, use a bit of your logic before making up your mind !
Before giving any credibility to the coin conjecture I think not only the apparent coin image should be presented but its registration should be demonstrated. The best of the “enhancements” do present the impression of elements of the Pilate coin, however the elements seem to be out of placement and not in the correct scale, so it may well simply be a case of similarity and not a real image at all. Remember that the folks doing the processing were looking for a particular appearance so there is a selection phenomenon at work which will drive the process to the best apparent fit.
Thanks for this comment. I agree completely and I know that the late Ray Rogers would agree with this too. Our mind play tricks sometimes…
That may be true, but we should not also ‘assume’ a selection phenomenon. We all must remember that most all 3D or pseudo 3d renderings, show quite clear that there are objects on the eyes, as you are quite familiar with Ray. What these ‘objects’ are is still a mystery and unlikely to be ‘noise’ or a remnant of the weave…and I should add; I hope that we have not seen the “best of the enhancements” as of yet.
Great to see you on here too Ray!
R.
Breaking “my silence”, I just wanted to say I am 100% with you Ray! It’s so refreshing to meet a well thought comment from time to time by a serious Shroud researcher.