A Page Out of History

Years ago, while doing graduate work, Associate Professor of English Tim Stinson stumbled across what he calls a “culture divide” between the humanities and natural sciences. When studying historical artifacts like medieval manuscripts, humanities research methodology doesn’t allow destructive sampling, such as cutting off even a tiny piece of parchment for testing. Researchers in the natural sciences, however, will drill into a fossil to discover what long-term gains in knowledge can be gleaned from its pieces. 

Confident that medieval parchment held more than just the stories of the text written on their surfaces, Stinson was determined to find a less intrusive sampling technique than what has traditionally been used by researchers. He employed a less invasive method using cytology brushes and enlisted the help of College of Veterinary Medicine professors Matthew Breen and Kelly Meiklejohn. 

Combining Stinson’s brushing technique with Breen’s genomics knowledge and Meiklejohn’s forensics skill set, the team is pioneering a method of nondestructive sampling that they’ve applied to more than 90 manuscripts held at Duke University’s Rubenstein Library. The manuscripts date from the late eighth to early 20th centuries and are originally from England, Europe, the Middle East and northeast Africa. They include pieces from Torah scrolls, Ethiopian religious texts, and Greek and Latin works. “What we really want to do is to show this technique has legs across time and space,” Stinson says. 

That proven efficacy means researchers can learn more not only about the individual parchments they test, but also the regions and periods in which they were made. Meiklejohn tests and analyzes mitochondrial DNA extracted from the parchments to discover what animals, such as goats, cows and sheep, were used to make the manuscripts. Breen can determine the sex of the animal. And the team can tell if the animal was a vector for any disease.

Their innovative approach is at the forefront of biocodicology — the study of the biological information that can be extracted from manuscripts and materials. “We already have people contacting us with their parchment questions,” says Stinson. “[Breen]’s now working with folks in the U.K. on Roman leather shoes. [Meiklejohn] was talking about working with leather samples from fish and wildlife.”

“This is truly one of the most interdisciplinary projects I’ve had the privilege of being involved in.”
— Matthew Breen

“This is truly one of the most interdisciplinary projects I’ve had the privilege of being involved in,” says Breen. “It places NC State as a global hub.”

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