What Blood Type Is the Blood of Lanciano?
The answer is AB. Odoardo Linoli identified this blood group in 1970–71 in both the blood and the flesh of the relics.
How the blood group was determined
Linoli used the absorption-elution method, a standard forensic technique of the time for old and dried bloodstains. Before that he had shown with a precipitin test that the material is of human origin.
The result was the same for flesh and blood: group AB. For Linoli this suggested that both come from the same person.
How common is AB?
AB is the rarest of the four groups of the ABO system. Around five percent of people in central Europe have it; the share is somewhat higher in the Middle East.
The comparison with the Shroud of Turin
Group AB has also been reported for the bloodstains on the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo. Many believers see a connection.
Specialists advise caution: in very old samples, degradation and bacteria can mimic the A and B antigens, so the test shows AB more often than is really the case. The match is therefore an indication, not proof.
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