A burial textile from the first century CE in Jerusalem compared to roman textiles in the land of Israel and the Turin Shroud

Abstract

Although the grave in the Ben Hinnom Valley {(Akeldama)} in Jerusalem was visited by robbers, there was a single, sealed and untouched loculus. Upon opening this grave a black mass of material and bones were found. The mass itself appeared to be made up of fabric and human hair. The bones in this loculus had not been gathered for a secondary burial, as was the custom for Jewish burials at the beginning of the first millennium {CE.}