Abstract
ABSTRACT Parchment is one of the most abundant resources in archives across the world and is a unique time-sensitive material through which centuries of livestock economies, trade and craft can be explored. We examine the impact of structural and chemical modifications during production to δ13C and δ15N values in the skin, particularly the removal of cutaneous keratins and lipids and the conversion of amide functional groups into carboxyl groups via alkaline hydrolysis. Through the manufacture of 51 parchment skins (sheep, goat, calf and pig) using both historic and modern manufacturing techniques, we found production resulted in a small enrichment in 13C (average +0.12‰) and 15N (+0.26‰). Our results pave the way for the isotopic analysis of parchment in paleodietary and paleoenvironmental studies for the historic period and establish the acceptable C:N ratios in deamidated collagenous tissues.
Highlights
Palaeodietary and zooarchaeological stable isotope analysis has traditionally focussed on the analysis of bone collagen and dentine due to their preservation and ubiquity in the archaeological record
While the isotope analysis of parchment has been conducted (Campana et al 2010; Pollard and Brock 2011), the impact of production on measured values in the skin has not been explored. These previous studies have observed δ15N values in modern and historic parchment far higher than those expected from terrestrial herbivores, with values >10‰ suggesting isotopic fractionation as a result of the structural and chemical modifications, the skin undergoes during processing, amide sidechain hydrolysis during liming (Campana et al 2010; Pollard and Brock 2011)
We present the isotopic analysis of 51 paired skin and parchment samples from a range of species to assess the impact of production on collagen isotope values and elemental composition, paving the way for the future analysis of the historical documents using this technique
Summary
Palaeodietary and zooarchaeological stable isotope analysis has traditionally focussed on the analysis of bone collagen and dentine due to their preservation and ubiquity in the archaeological record. While abundant, these materials are constrained by their archaeological phasing or radiocarbon date, which at best assigns the material to a single century. While the isotope analysis of parchment has been conducted (Campana et al 2010; Pollard and Brock 2011), the impact of production on measured values in the skin has not been explored.
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