The mysterious Shroud of Turin, which is believed by many Christians to have laid atop Jesus Christ's body after his crucifixion, may be even stranger than we previously thought.

In a new study published in the journal Archaeometry, Brazilian 3D designer Cicero Moraes lends credence to the theory that the shroud was a work of art rather than a genuine death shroud — and per the new paper, it may not have laid atop a human at all.

Using three types of 3D modeling tools — MakeHuman, Blender, and CloudCompare — Moraes found that the contours of any "body" that would have imprinted upon the shroud is very unlikely to have been human. Instead, he believes, more likely it would have belonged to a statue.

Comparing models of a "low-relief" statue versus an actual human body in those programs,

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