Scourge marks on the Turin Shroud have been traditionally grouped together by Shroud experts and forensic pathologists, as the result of the damage of a single torture instrument [1, 2, 3, 4].
The most accurate work on scourge bloodstains have been performed in the last century by G. Ricci. He realized a systematic visual study of the scourge marks on a 1:1 scale copy of the Shroud obtained from 1931 Enrie's photographs, made with an orthochromatic film to enhance all details. He concluded that the Shroud man was scourged by two executors, one on each side of the body, each holding a Roman "flagrum", a whip with three leather straps having dumb-bell shaped metal extremities armed with small spikes [5].
Thank to enhancements and image processing of the 1969 Judica Cordiglia's and the 2000 Durante's photos, three different types of "scourge" marks have been identified [6]. The first type (Type1) is found on the whole surface of the double image and it can actually be associated to the Roman flagrum already mentioned. It is characterized by two or three blood circlets (where the sheet has been more soaked) connected by a much lesser evident line. The second type (Type2) is observable mainly on the back, on the lumbar region, on the back of tights and on the chest. It has a wider shape and it is more evanescent with respect to Type1. At higher enhancement and contrast it is similar to a large scrape, formed by small parallel blood lines fading into serum. The third type (Type3) is very faint and rare, it can be detected on the lower part of calves and generally where the body surface is curved. It is a kind of fan-shaped scratch and it could be the result of the cylindrical deformation of Type2 scourge mark.
New image processing of the three scourge mark types is being performed using Adobe Photoshop CS4 on a higher resolution version of the 2000 Durante's Shroud photo and on Miller's UV photos, in order to better constraint the shape of the impacting objects and to detect the presence of blood and serum. The use of at least two different kinds of whip seems to be confirmed on the basis of new and more accurate results. The identification of the torture instruments puts constraints on the historical period in which the execution of the Turin Shroud man took place.

References
[1] Vignon P., Le Saint Suaire de Turin. Masson Eds.(1939).
[2] Larato G., L'ignominiosa flagellazione secondo la Sindone: rilievi di fisiopatologia clinica. Proceeding of the III National Congress on the Turin Shroud (1984).
[3] Lind, A. C., Antonacci, M., Fanti, G., Elmore, D., Guthrie, J. M., Production of Radiocarbon by Neutron Radiation on Linen, Int. Workshop on the Scientific Approach to the Acheiropoietos Images, Frascati 2010
[4] Zugibe F., The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry. M.Evans Publ. (2005).
[5] Ricci G., L'Uomo della Sindone è Gesù, diamo le prove. Carroccio Eds., Vigodarzere, Padova (1989).
[6] Faccini B., Scourge bloodstains on the Turin Shroud: an evidence for different instruments used. Proceedings of the International Congress "The Shroud of Turin: perspectives on a multifaceted enigma" (2008).

After the first photograph made in 1898 the lawyer Secondo Pia had extensive correspondence with many personalities and scholars throughout Europe. In particular, some letters traced by the spokesman, refer to contacts with which Filippo Crispolti dissertation of some technical details of unpublished and management Pia's archive. The study of this correspondence is deduced when new openings for research on the first photo of the Shroud.

Length measurements on the images imprinted on the Shroud of Turin have been done for over a century. These measurements have usually been done using printed photographs. Such measurements are not reproducible since: 1) they do not report their endpoints, 2) the photographs used is often not specified. For example, reporting the height of the head image, of the man of the Shroud, is not reproducible since we do not know what are the endpoints of the measurement. This is in large part due to the lack of outlines of the images imprinted on the Shroud. We do not see clear boundaries for the top of the head and the chin. All the images imprinted on the Shroud have no outlines. We cannot verify the reported lengths of measurements without having precise endpoints from a specified photograph. Clear and reproducible length measurements are important since they are the basis of more complex analyses. For example, if we try to measure the height of the man of the Shroud it is necessar y to do several length measurements: feet, legs, torso, and head. Without the entire list of endpoints of these measurements, it is unclear what has been measured.

We present a Web interface, available at sindonology.org (aka dshroud.com), that enables length measurements, with a precision of about 1 millimeter, and that reports its endpoints as rectangular coordinates, in pixel. These capabilities, i.e., length measurements and presentation overlay, can be done on three photographs: Pia (1898), Enrie (1931), and Arcidiocesi di Torino (restoration of 2002). The Web interface can be used with most popular browsers and was tested on IE, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome.

The Web interface provides also tools to add text and drawings, as overlays, over one of the provided photographs of the Shroud. For example, it is possible to draw a polygon around the region of the 1988 radiocarbon dating sample and annotate the polygon with text. The user can bookmark the result, as a Web link, for future reference or insert a provided piece of code in any Web page that will act as a Web link to the result. Such a feature enables the quick creation of annotated presentation over a Shroud photograph without the necessity to edit any digital images or the creation of complex Web pages.

It is well known that the information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give a perception that in some cases does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source [1].
Sometimes we are able to recognize some familiar shapes in images which represent a completely different subject (or do not represent anything, such as an ensemble of stars) due to a wrong interpretation or to our past experience [2].
Concerning the images of objects "seen" on some photographic records of acheiropoietos images, there are two main sources of potential misconstruction: literal optical illusions creating images that are different from the objects that make them, and cognitive illusions where the eye and brain make unconscious inferences.
In this paper, after a back-to-basics introduction on the physiology of the human vision [3] we will discuss how the system eyes-brain can be deceived by two-dimensional and three-dimensional images.
The discussion will be guided by several examples of animated optical and cognitive illusions.

References
[1] See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion
[2] See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
[3] See, e.g., http://webvision.med.utah.edu/

This work firstly aims to produce a quantitative color image of the Shroud starting from a digital photograph realized in 2002 by photographer G. Durante [1] and from some color measurements made in 1978 by the researchers Artom and Soardo [2].
The method is based on acquisition of RGB (Red, Green and Blue) averaged values detected, by histogram function of common photographic software, in a determinate area and comparing them with colorimetric 1978's data. RGB values were acquired in 18 particular points of Shroud picture using the same circular area (68 pixel diameter) measured by colorimeter in 1978.
By color space and illuminant conversion Matrix, RGB data of 2002 photograph were transformed in CIE XYZ coordinates (the same color space of 1978 measurements) and every color channel was corrected to colorimetric 1978's values; at this point results can be directly employed in this format or reconverted in RGB color space. Total uncertainty of the quantitative image is ± 4%.
Secondly the quantitative image was processed for color measurement of some details like cloth, bloodstains, image, burns and water spots as it was done in 2008 [3]. A colorimetric database of typical xyz CIE chromatic coordinates value was then built. The results of data thus acquired has been reported in x/y and x/z diagrams showing the characteristics of some details.
Exploiting the quantitative image it is possible the direct comparison of Shroud details such as the blood stains. Method was applied for example to detect some characteristics of the blood and on three spots in correspondence of the buttocks of Man of the Shroud, noting that that they can be burns but not blood.

References
[1] Ghiberti G., "Sindone le immagini 2002 Shroud images", ODPF, Torino 2002.
[2] Artom M., Soardo P., "Caratteristiche fotometriche e colorimetriche della Sindone" in "La Sindone, Scienza e Fede", Atti del II Conv. Nazionale di Sindonologia, Bologna 1981, a cura di L. Coppini e F. Cavazzuti, CLUEB, Bologna 1983, pp. 321-329.
[3] G. Bedon et al., "Study of the Bloodstains in the Shroud of Turin" First Prize Poster, Proceedings of the 2008 Int. Conf. on the Turin Shroud, Columbus, Ohio, USA, edited by G. Fanti in 2009, Lib. Progetto, Italy.