14C Dating of the Titulus Crucis

This is a peer reviewed radiocarbon dating study published in the journal Radiocarbon, the leading specialist venue for radiocarbon method and results, by Francesco Bella and Carlo Azzi. It reports a direct 14C measurement of the wood of the Titulus Crucis relic venerated at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome, finding a calibrated two sigma range of AD 980 to 1146, a clearly medieval date rather than a first century one. As a physical dating result published under peer review in the field's own specialist journal, it carries strong authority for the specific empirical question it tested, when the wood itself was cut. Its limit is scope, a laboratory result about the object's material date, not a historical argument about when or why the inscription was carved onto that wood, so it settles the dating question directly while leaving the relic's later devotional and art historical history to other sources.