Researchers have developed a nondestructive way to extract genetic material from medieval parchment manuscripts, opening a new window into the history of agriculture, animal breeding, trade networks, and manuscript production stretching back more than 1,300 years.
The breakthrough allows scientists to collect DNA from priceless historical parchments without damaging the manuscripts themselves. By analyzing the animal skins used to make parchment, researchers say they can uncover new information about everything from medieval livestock practices to the movement of manuscripts across regions and cultures.
The study, published in the journal Manuscript Studies, examined 91 manuscripts held by the Rubenstein Library at Duke University. The documents ranged in date from the late eighth century to the early twentieth century and originated in areas stretching from England to Ethiopia.
“Because they are made from animal skins, it is often possible to extract genetic information from parchments,” explains Tim Stinson, an associate professor of English at North Carolina State University and the paper’s corresponding author. “That genetic information, in turn, offers us a window into the past, answering questions about things such as when and where a manuscript was made.”
Photo of Tim Stinson using the new, nondestructive sampling technique to conduct genetic analyses of parchment manuscripts. Photo credit: Nash Dunn, NC State University
Parchment was the dominant writing material across much of Europe and the Mediterranean world for more than a thousand years. According to the researchers, an estimated one to three billion pieces of parchment may still survive today, preserved in libraries, archives, museums, and religious collections around the world.
The authors describe this vast collection of animal skins as a hidden “animal archive” — a biological record that has largely gone unnoticed by scholars focused primarily on the texts and artwork written on parchment.
“This paper is particularly important because one of the biggest challenges for this emerging field of genetic analysis has been gaining access to historic parchments, due to concerns that collecting samples would damage these culturally significant artifacts,” says Stinson. “Our work shows that we can collect samples without harming the parchments, which is a big step forward.”
A New Way to Study Medieval Manuscripts
Researchers have demonstrated a nondestructive way to collect cellular material from historical parchment manuscripts, allowing them to conduct genetic analyses that offer new insights into everything from trade routes to agricultural practices dating back 1,300 years – without harming the valuable manuscripts. Photo credit: Nash Dunn, NC State University
The researchers used a simple but highly effective sampling technique: gently rubbing the parchment with a cytology brush — the same type of brush used for Pap smears. The brushes collect tiny traces of cellular material without visibly damaging the manuscript.
The team then used modern forensic-style DNA sequencing methods to identify the animals whose skins had been transformed into parchment centuries ago. “We’re essentially using state-of-the art technologies and genetic analytical techniques to get new, empirical information regarding historical cultural and agricultural practices,” says Stinson.
The project is part of the growing field of “biocodicology,” which studies manuscripts through the biological evidence preserved within them. The researchers note that parchment can contain traces not only from the original animal, but also from bacteria, viruses, insects, rodents, and humans who handled the manuscript over the centuries.
The study also highlights how unusual parchment archives are from a scientific perspective. While archaeologists and paleontologists often use destructive techniques such as drilling fossils or grinding bone samples into powder, manuscript conservators are understandably reluctant to allow any process that could damage unique historical artifacts.
Matthew Breen, co-author of the paper and professor of comparative oncology genetics at NC State, says the new technique may help overcome those concerns. “We’ve shown that we’re able to extract a tremendous amount of new information from these parchments without harming them. This will hopefully engender trust with those organizations that are responsible for preserving these historic documents.”
Sheep in England, Goats in Ethiopia
Finished parchment made of goatskin stretched on a wooden frame – photo by Michal Maňas / Wikimedia Commons
The genetic analysis also revealed regional patterns in parchment production. English manuscripts in the study were overwhelmingly made from sheepskin, accounting for about 80 percent of the authenticated English samples. Manuscripts from Ethiopia were primarily made from goatskin, while southern European manuscripts showed a mixture of sheep, goat, and cattle parchment. The researchers suggest these patterns reflect local agricultural practices and livestock economies in different parts of the medieval world.
One surprising result involved a manuscript that appeared to contain pig DNA. The team believes this probably does not mean the parchment itself was made from pigskin, but may instead reflect the use of pig-derived glue or another surface treatment applied to the manuscript.
The manuscripts sampled for the study included a wide variety of texts and formats, ranging from Greek Gospel books and Latin theological works to Ethiopian magic scrolls and Hebrew Torah fragments.
Unlocking a Hidden Archive
The study also builds on earlier research in biocodicology. The authors highlight a previous investigation of a twelfth-century Gospel manuscript that revealed scribes had intentionally alternated between calfskin and sheepskin parchment. Most intriguingly, researchers found a single goatskin page immediately after the biblical parable mentioning a young goat, raising the possibility that medieval scribes may have intentionally matched animal skin to textual content.
Future research may go even further. The team hopes to determine the sex of the animals used for parchment, reconstruct medieval herds, study historical livestock diseases, and track how animal breeds evolved over time.
The researchers believe parchment may provide something almost unparalleled in the historical record: a year-by-year biological archive spanning more than a millennium.
“We have a remarkable opportunity here,” says Breen. “It is essentially a whole new field, bringing together a truly interdisciplinary range of expertise spanning fields from genetics to medieval history.”
The article, “Adventures in the Animal Archive: New Techniques for the Genetic Analysis of Parchment Manuscripts,” by Timothy L. Stinson, Melissa K. R. Scheible, Rachael Thomas, Nicholas E. Wagner, Matthew Breen, Benjamin J. Callahan, and Kelly Meiklejohn, is published in Manuscript Studies. Click here to read it.
Researchers have developed a nondestructive way to extract genetic material from medieval parchment manuscripts, opening a new window into the history of agriculture, animal breeding, trade networks, and manuscript production stretching back more than 1,300 years.
The breakthrough allows scientists to collect DNA from priceless historical parchments without damaging the manuscripts themselves. By analyzing the animal skins used to make parchment, researchers say they can uncover new information about everything from medieval livestock practices to the movement of manuscripts across regions and cultures.
The study, published in the journal Manuscript Studies, examined 91 manuscripts held by the Rubenstein Library at Duke University. The documents ranged in date from the late eighth century to the early twentieth century and originated in areas stretching from England to Ethiopia.
“Because they are made from animal skins, it is often possible to extract genetic information from parchments,” explains Tim Stinson, an associate professor of English at North Carolina State University and the paper’s corresponding author. “That genetic information, in turn, offers us a window into the past, answering questions about things such as when and where a manuscript was made.”
Parchment was the dominant writing material across much of Europe and the Mediterranean world for more than a thousand years. According to the researchers, an estimated one to three billion pieces of parchment may still survive today, preserved in libraries, archives, museums, and religious collections around the world.
The authors describe this vast collection of animal skins as a hidden “animal archive” — a biological record that has largely gone unnoticed by scholars focused primarily on the texts and artwork written on parchment.
“This paper is particularly important because one of the biggest challenges for this emerging field of genetic analysis has been gaining access to historic parchments, due to concerns that collecting samples would damage these culturally significant artifacts,” says Stinson. “Our work shows that we can collect samples without harming the parchments, which is a big step forward.”
A New Way to Study Medieval Manuscripts
The researchers used a simple but highly effective sampling technique: gently rubbing the parchment with a cytology brush — the same type of brush used for Pap smears. The brushes collect tiny traces of cellular material without visibly damaging the manuscript.
The team then used modern forensic-style DNA sequencing methods to identify the animals whose skins had been transformed into parchment centuries ago. “We’re essentially using state-of-the art technologies and genetic analytical techniques to get new, empirical information regarding historical cultural and agricultural practices,” says Stinson.
The project is part of the growing field of “biocodicology,” which studies manuscripts through the biological evidence preserved within them. The researchers note that parchment can contain traces not only from the original animal, but also from bacteria, viruses, insects, rodents, and humans who handled the manuscript over the centuries.
The study also highlights how unusual parchment archives are from a scientific perspective. While archaeologists and paleontologists often use destructive techniques such as drilling fossils or grinding bone samples into powder, manuscript conservators are understandably reluctant to allow any process that could damage unique historical artifacts.
Matthew Breen, co-author of the paper and professor of comparative oncology genetics at NC State, says the new technique may help overcome those concerns. “We’ve shown that we’re able to extract a tremendous amount of new information from these parchments without harming them. This will hopefully engender trust with those organizations that are responsible for preserving these historic documents.”
Sheep in England, Goats in Ethiopia
The genetic analysis also revealed regional patterns in parchment production. English manuscripts in the study were overwhelmingly made from sheepskin, accounting for about 80 percent of the authenticated English samples. Manuscripts from Ethiopia were primarily made from goatskin, while southern European manuscripts showed a mixture of sheep, goat, and cattle parchment. The researchers suggest these patterns reflect local agricultural practices and livestock economies in different parts of the medieval world.
One surprising result involved a manuscript that appeared to contain pig DNA. The team believes this probably does not mean the parchment itself was made from pigskin, but may instead reflect the use of pig-derived glue or another surface treatment applied to the manuscript.
The manuscripts sampled for the study included a wide variety of texts and formats, ranging from Greek Gospel books and Latin theological works to Ethiopian magic scrolls and Hebrew Torah fragments.
Unlocking a Hidden Archive
The study also builds on earlier research in biocodicology. The authors highlight a previous investigation of a twelfth-century Gospel manuscript that revealed scribes had intentionally alternated between calfskin and sheepskin parchment. Most intriguingly, researchers found a single goatskin page immediately after the biblical parable mentioning a young goat, raising the possibility that medieval scribes may have intentionally matched animal skin to textual content.
Future research may go even further. The team hopes to determine the sex of the animals used for parchment, reconstruct medieval herds, study historical livestock diseases, and track how animal breeds evolved over time.
The researchers believe parchment may provide something almost unparalleled in the historical record: a year-by-year biological archive spanning more than a millennium.
“We have a remarkable opportunity here,” says Breen. “It is essentially a whole new field, bringing together a truly interdisciplinary range of expertise spanning fields from genetics to medieval history.”
The article, “Adventures in the Animal Archive: New Techniques for the Genetic Analysis of Parchment Manuscripts,” by Timothy L. Stinson, Melissa K. R. Scheible, Rachael Thomas, Nicholas E. Wagner, Matthew Breen, Benjamin J. Callahan, and Kelly Meiklejohn, is published in Manuscript Studies. Click here to read it.
Top Image: Photo by Nash Dunn, NC State University
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