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.

摘要

羊皮纸是全世界档案馆中最丰富的资源之一，并且是一种对时间敏感的独特材料，可以探索数百年来的牲畜经济，贸易和手工艺。我们研究的结构和化学修饰的生产过程中的影响，δ ¹³ C和δ ^15个在皮肤N个值，特别是去除皮肤角蛋白和脂质，并通过碱性水解的酰胺官能团转化成羧基。通过使用历史和现代制造技术制造51种羊皮（绵羊皮，山羊皮，小牛和猪皮），我们发现生产导致¹³ C（平均+ 0.12‰）和¹⁵ C的少量富集。N（+ 0.26‰）。我们的结果为历史时期的古饮食和古环境研究中的羊皮纸同位素分析铺平了道路，并确定了脱酰胺化胶原组织中可接受的C：N比。