Finally, there is the question of radiocarbon dating. Sinclair acquired two dates for the scroll, from Oxford University s Accelerator Laboratory. The first result, he says, was disastrous , because the samples that he submitted were so spoiled by chemicals or use that the process declared them to be not more than fifty years old . He sent another piece, and this time the result pointed to the fifteenth century, most probably between 1400 and 1530 . Sinclair s grasp of radiocarbon dating seems to be defective.
Scientists check for chemical contamination before using the process.
When Oxford investigated Sinclair s original sample they found no problem. This doesn t mean not more than fifty years old , as Sinclair imagines. This radically different result is of course still not incompatible with a late date for the design on the cloth. We have already seen that the design cannot be earlier than 1611, because of the quotations from the King James Bible on it. Radiocarbon analysis is useful in the study of art objects.