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 ...
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.
