This type of analysis has wide-reaching implications for economic, social and cultural history, since it reveals information about animal husbandry, trade patterns, and a range factors affecting the production of texts. Their next step is to build a genealogical tree, linking the DNA evidence to the individual animals and tracing their relationships within the herd or herds. In a recent study, they have been able to non-destructively analyze the animal origin of all the parchment skins used in on single medieval manuscript, a 12th-century copy of the Gospel of Luke. Testing revealed that the manuscript was comprised of not one animal type, but a mix of animal skins – including sheep, goat and calf. The new technique extracts proteins by rubbing a small white eraser on the parchment surface – a process that electrostatically transfers a fine layer of membrane onto the eraser for testing. Part of the team of conservators, scientists, historians, and art historians who completed this study are continuing with their studies of parchment animal origin, testing each leaf of an entire manuscript instead of a sampling of leaves. The research methods used are revolutionary, since previous studies had to rely on taking small clippings of manuscripts and conducting tests that were destructive. Instead, the researchers concluded that the thinness was achieved by the parchmenter, not through a selection of unborn animals – a practice that would have been unsustainable for obvious reasons. ![]() A team of researchers extracted parchment proteins from over 500 manuscript leaves to determine that the parchment used was not uterine. However, a fascinating 2015 study debunked this notion. It was long believed that the tissue thin parchment used to make thousands of popular pocket bibles in medieval France was uterine calf or sheep. Parchment made from unborn or uterine calf, called slunk, was rare but prized because it was quite smooth and could be made very thin. The term ‘vellum’ shares its root with the word ‘veal’ and, strictly speaking, only refers to parchment made from calf skin. Parchment can be made out of any animal skin, but the parchment found in manuscripts is generally from sheep, hair sheep, goat, calf, and wild hoofed animal. Parchment was difficult to print on – early printers tried this ! It was also too expensive, considering the volume that was required to meet the demands of the new printing press. Europeans used parchment until paper became readily available, an increase that was fueled by adoption of the printing press in the mid 15th century. In the Islamic tradition, it was early on superseded by paper, which was introduced through trade and cultural contact with communities in east Asia via the Silk Road. Certain religious traditions still dictate the use of parchment for sacred books – such as the Torah scroll. ![]() ![]() Parchment is a high tension sheet material, used across cultures as a substrate for writing sacred and secular texts – as well as for binding and covering books. A fresh goat skin was procured from the talented Jesse Meyer, a parchment maker who runs Pergamena in upstate New York, and with the help of Bill Voss we managed to get the job done. We made parchment! We lucked out and got some warm weather into October this year – just enough to get outside and make parchment with students in my Material Analysis: Manuscripts Across Cultures course.
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