Dozens of rare, fur-covered volumes from 12th and 13th century French monasteries are wrapped with seal skins that may have come from as far away as Greenland, researchers report April 9 in Royal Society Open Science.
Contrasting DNA from five chemisettes with DNA from seals validated that the covers were undoubtedly seal skin. 4 of the shimmies are genetically similar to harbor seals from Scandinavia, Denmark and Scotland, while the fifth camisole is genetically comparable to harp seals, likely from Greenland or Iceland. The scientists aesthetically determined other hairy chemisettes and ultimately cataloged 43 seal-skin publications.
The main covers were undoubtedly made of sheepskin, yet Lévêque battled to recognize the skin used for the furry camisole– the outer protective cover. She had researchers contrast proteins from chemise examples with recognized pet healthy proteins. It turns out that the skins belonged to seals.
Loads of unusual, fur-covered quantities from 13th and 12th century French abbeys are covered with seal skins that may have originated from as far as Greenland, researchers report April 9 in Royal Society Open Scientific Research. The findings test the presumption that the books’ manufacturers utilized just locally sourced materials and recommend that they became part of a considerable profession network.
Comparing DNA from 5 teddies with DNA from seals validated that the covers were undoubtedly seal skin. 4 of the teddies are genetically similar to harbor seals from Scandinavia, Denmark and Scotland, while the 5th chemise is genetically similar to harp seals, likely from Greenland or Iceland. Scientific research Information was founded in 1921 as an independent, nonprofit source of precise information on the most recent news of medicine, scientific research and innovation.
Guides come from Clairvaux Abbey, founded in 1115 by Cistercian monks in northern France, and its little girl monasteries. Some tomes are nearly 900 years old. Scientists had actually assumed they were wrapped with boar or deer skin. But when book conservator Élodie Lévêque checked out them with a microscopic lense, she was stumped.
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“I resembled, ‘that’s not possible. There must be an error,'” claims Lévêque, of Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris. Seals really did not regular France’s north coastline at the time, she states. “I sent it once more, and it came back as seal skin again.”
Norse hunters in those regions might have caught seals and brought their skins to northern France via trading routes, Lévêque and associates state. The monks might not have known that they were covering their books with seal skins, the group suggests.
“I sent it once again, and it came back as seal skin again.”
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1 century French monasteries2 researchers report April
3 Royal Society Open
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