THE SHROUD OF TURIN is the subject of a rather disappointing National Geographic article. Disappointing because it mostly presents allegedly positive evidence in its favor and fails to interview specialists in ancient history and anthropology who find it to be a fake. For a more balanced recent article, see this USA Today piece. Excerpt from the latter:

But experts expressed surprise that anyone considers the shroud anything more than a faked Renaissance relic.

"I am utterly unconvinced by these new charges," says Harvard's Joseph Greene. "They are not the results of serious scholarship."

Joe Zias of Hebrew University of Jerusalem calls the shroud indisputably a fake. "Not only is it a forgery, but it's a bad forgery."

Zias says the shroud depicts a man whose front measures 2 inches taller than his back and whose elongated hands and arms would indicate he was afflicted with gigantism if it were real.