Posted on 01/18/2009 4:53:33 PM PST by decimon
>
Many medieval manuscripts were written on parchment made from animal skin, and NC State Assistant Professor of English Timothy Stinson is working to perfect techniques for extracting and analyzing the DNA contained in these skins with the long-term goal of creating a genetic database that can be used to determine when and where a manuscript was written. "Dating and localizing manuscripts have historically presented persistent problems," Stinson says, "because they have largely been based on the handwriting and dialect of the scribes who created the manuscripts – techniques that have proven unreliable for a number of reasons."
>
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Painstakingly typewritten ping.
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks decimon. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
That depends. Didn’t the medieval scribes sometimes scrape off older texts already on the vellum , and write new manuscripts on that same old vellum because vellum itself was so scarce?
No, they were a hidebound lot.
Okay, I have no idea if they did or didn't.
ping for later
Would it be possible to clone a human from the human hide binding?
(I’m not very bright.)
I seem to remember once reading that they are now looking for the original texts though some imaging techniques on older vellum’s that had been reused.
No, they were a hidebound lot. LOL!!
Human hide? Someone you know?
"Gee, I feel so bad about what we did with aunt Vickie."
Must be where the term “Give me some skin” came from :-P
Thanks.
Medieval Manuscrips are amrvelous. These studies may help chart the travels of the these manuscripts that saved much of Western Culture during the so called “Dark Ages”.
FDor anyone who loves Medieval History and Manuscrips, read “THE NAME OF THE ROSE” by Umberto Ecco. A truly memorable book.
They only used the skin of criminals for the “human hide”, so they’re probably not ones we’d want more of. DNA testing, though, might be interesting. To make those manuscripts, were they killing all the schizoprhenics or just the vikings?
I agree. I loved the book. Another book that helps understand the dark age era is Thomas Cahill’s book, How the Irish Saved Civilization. It’s non-fiction, but very interesting.
Use of old vellums. These reused manuscripts were called “palimpsests”, and I would expect that the majority would be reused within the same monestary, therefore having the value suggested in the article. Of course, if they were decrees or books that were sent elsewhere, then there might be a distance problem.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.