So you want to do biocodicology? A field guide to the biological analysis of parchment

Sarah Fiddyment, Matthew D. Teasdale, Jiří Vnouček, Élodie Lévêque, Annelise Binois, Matthew J. Collins

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Biocodicology, the study of the biological information stored in manuscripts, offers the possibility of interrogating manuscripts in novel ways. Exploring the biological data associated to parchment documents will add a deeper level of understanding and interpretation to these invaluable objects, revealing information about book production, livestock economies, handling, conservation and the historic use of the object. As biotechnological methods continue to improve we hope that biocodicology will become a highly relevant discipline in manuscript studies, contributing an additional perspective to the current scholarship. We hope that this review will act as a catalyst enabling further interactions between the heritage science community, manuscript scholars, curators and conservators.
Original languageEnglish
Article number35
JournalHeritage Science
Volume7
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
ISSN2050-7445
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Biological analysis
  • Parchment
  • Biocodicology

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