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Doesn't old blood turn black? The bloodstains on the Shroud are red. Isn't this a problem?
That the bloodstains are real blood has been proven over and over by many scientists working independently of one another.
It is true that old blood normally turns black. The reasons it is red are simple. Ancient cloth, as it was manufactured in the the Middle East during the first century, was starched on the loom and then washed in suds of the Soapwort plant. Ingredients of this natural soap are hemolytic, which would keep the blood red. We know, as well, that the blood on the Shroud is rich in bilirubin, a bile pigment produced when a human body is under severe traumatic stress. Bilirubin is bright red and stays red.
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© 2004 Daniel R. Porter, Bronxville, New York
