Editing Parchment (section)

== Technical analysis <span class="anchor" id="DNA testing"></span> ==
The [[radiocarbon dating]] techniques that are used on papyrus can be applied to parchment as well. They do not date the age of the writing but the preparation of the parchment itself.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Santos|first1=F.J.|last2=Gomez-Martinez|first2=I.|last3=Garcia-Leon|first3=M.|title=Radiocarbon dating of medieval manuscripts from the University of Seville|url=http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/75115/4/Radiocarbon%20dating.pdf|website=[[Digital.csic.es]]|access-date=2015-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102317/http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/75115/4/Radiocarbon%20dating.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=live}}</ref> While it is feasibly possible also to radiocarbon date certain kinds of ink, it is extremely difficult to do due to the fact that they are generally present on the text only in trace amounts, and it is hard to get a carbon sample of them without the carbon in the parchment contaminating it.<ref>{{cite web|last=Stolte|first=D.|year=2011 |title=UA experts determine age of book 'nobody can read' |url=http://uanews.org/story/ua-experts-determine-age-book-nobody-can-read |access-date=2015-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404164910/http://uanews.org/story/ua-experts-determine-age-book-nobody-can-read|archive-date=2015-04-04|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

An article published in 2009 considered the possibilities of tracing the origin of medieval parchment manuscripts and codices through [[DNA]] analysis. The methodology would employ [[polymerase chain reaction]] to replicate a small DNA sample to a size sufficiently large for testing. The article discusses the use of DNA testing to estimate the age of the calf at the creation of the vellum parchment. A 2006 study revealed the genetic signature of several Greek manuscripts to have "goat-related sequences". Utilizing these techniques we may be able to determine whether related library materials were made from genetically related animals (perhaps from the same herd) and locate the vellum's origination.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stinson |first=Timothy L. |title=Knowledge of the Flesh: Using DNA Analysis to Unlock Bibliographical Secrets of Medieval Parchment |journal=The Papers of the Bibliographical Society |volume=103 |number=4 |date=2009 |pages=435–53 |doi=10.1086/pbsa.103.4.24293890|pmid=20607890 }}</ref>

In 2020, it was reported that the species of several of the animals used to provide parchment for the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] could be identified, and the relationship between skins obtained from the same animal inferred.{{sfn|Anava|Neuhof|Gingold|2020}} The breakthrough was made possible by the use of [[whole genome sequencing]].