| AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session AS+SS-TuA |
| Session: | Data Analytics in Surface Science and Nanoscience |
| Presenter: | Marie-Laure Abel, University of Surrey, UK |
| Authors: | M.L. Abel, University of Surrey, UK J.F. Watts, University of Surrey, UK V. Vilde, University of Surrey, UK |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Parchments are an historical writing support mostly used during the Middle Ages. Their popularity dates from the second century before Christ (BC) in Pergame, Turkey, from which the name originates. Unlike paper, parchment is made of animal skin with a process similar to that used to produce leather. The products used in the fabrication vary and any animal species can be used, although most historical parchments are made from sheep, goat and calf. Information of species recognition on parchments is currently provided either using proteomics or DNA analysis. However each technique presents difficulties and sometimes it is not possible to obtain an unambiguous result. Many valuables manuscripts are written on parchment such as the Magna Carta or the Codex Sinaiticus, which justifies the effort put towards the study of this material in order to improve the conservation process and to learn more about its history.
In this work, a new technique was used in order to assess if any information may be gleaned and help in the process of recognition or even providing any further information to conservators to be used for preservation of historical parchment. Time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) has been applied to the analysis of parchment specimens. Indeed while ToF-SIMS has been previously applied to a variety of samples of some significance in the cultural heritage field such as paintings or mummies, it has not been applied to parchments. To facilitate the data treatment process, this has been coupled with data analysis using chemometrics, namely principle component analysis (PCA).
A series of specimens of various ages and species were analysed on both sides, "skin" and "flesh". These samples included sheep, goat and calf. In addition, an unknown sample was also introduced to ascertain if its characteristics could be shown to be close to any species. Results indicate that it is fairly straightforward to distinguish between goat and sheep while calf is more difficult to separate from other species which is unexpected as biologically goat and sheep are considered the closest species within the selection. Furthermore the unknown specimen exhibits data which would classify it as a goat specimen. Considering the sides examined separations are seen within one particular species but the direction of the variation is not the same from one species to another. More work is needed to ascertain which side is being analysed for any unknown materials as the behaviour varies amongst the species examined in this work.