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.
Parchment is made from animal skins and has been in use for thousands of years across Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa to create a wide variety of documents, from legal documents to maps.
“Because they are made from animal skins, it is often possible to extract genetic information from parchments,” says Tim Stinson, corresponding author of a paper on this research and an associate professor of English at North Carolina State University. “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.”
“Because parchments have been in use for so long, and often record detailed historical information, the genetic information they contain can also shed light on the evolution of domesticated farm species, how breeds developed over time, livestock diseases and so on,” says Matthew Breen, co-author of the paper and the Oscar J. Fletcher Distinguished Professor of Comparative Oncology Genetics in NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
“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.”
For this study, the researchers used the nondestructive technique to collect cellular samples from 91 manuscripts held by the Rubenstein Library at Duke University. The manuscripts originated in areas from England to Ethiopia and were written between the late eighth and early 20th centuries.
The nondestructive sampling involves rubbing the parchment with a cytology brush, identical to the kind used for Pap smears.
“Cytology brushes can be used when dry and do an excellent job of harvesting cellular material without damaging the integrity of the artifact being sampled,” says Breen.
The researchers then extract the cellular material from the brushes and make use of forensic-level, next-generation sequencing technologies to pull out and amplify genetic sequences.
“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.
“We’ve shown that we’re able to extract a tremendous amount of new information from these parchments without harming them,” says Breen. “This will hopefully engender trust with those organizations that are responsible for preserving these historic documents.”
“We’re excited about the potential of this field and are seeking funding that will allow us to explore that potential,” says Stinson. “We’ve demonstrated that this is a vast, untapped source of historical information, and we want to continue this pioneering work.”
“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 paper, “Adventures in the Animal Archive: New Techniques for the Genetic Analysis of Parchment Manuscripts,” is published open access in the journal Manuscript Studies. The paper was co-authored by Melissa Scheible, a research associate at NC State; Rachael Thomas, a senior research scholar at NC State; Benjamin Callahan, an associate professor of population health and pathobiology at NC State; Nicholas Wagner, a postdoctoral research associate at Duke University; and Kelly Meiklejohn, an associate professor in forensic science at Western Sydney University.