article_snippet: Is there a better way to check the shroud than carbon dating?
article_snippet: I've been told carbon dating is very inaccurate.
article_snippet: Actually, carbon dating is an excellent way to ascertain the date of an artifact.
article_snippet: But the scientists doing the carbon dating were not amateurs, and the samples were tested in three separate labs.
article_snippet: Moreover, the carbon date cohered with other evidence that the shroud was a medieval forgery, like the fact that there is no evidence of the carbon date existence until the 14th century.
article_snippet: So I know the carbon dating was off, but wasn't the carbon dating later shown that the piece of cloth used for the testing was a section that had been repaired after some fire damage or something?
article_snippet: Which would explain why the carbon dating dated different?
highlights_snippet: Religion professor Mark Goodacre defends the carbon dating used to determine the age of the Shroud of Turin .