Peeling back the past: sheepskin delamination and patch repairs in parchment
Source abstract
Abstract
The ability of sheepskin to delaminate has been exploited in the production of Late Antique manuscripts, offering the advantages of high-quality parchments and patch repairs. This study investigates delamination in sheepskin parchment using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. By analysing a sample from experimentally produced lambskin parchment, this research identifies the delamination site within the skin structure and explores the bonding process of patch repairs. SEM imaging suggests involvement of the papillary dermis in the delamination. Micro-Raman spectroscopy indicates removal of epidermal layers and a portion of the papillary dermis during peeling. Wetting dynamics experiments with ferrogallic ink shows differences in absorption between delaminated and non-delaminated surfaces. The adhesion of patch repairs demonstrates stronger bonding in intentionally applied patches compared to accidental adhesion. This research clarifies the reasons for sheepskin parchment’s susceptibility to delamination and provides insights into traditional repair techniques and the material’s surface properties.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Building materials and conservation · Collagen: Extraction and Characterization
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (65)
Show source-provided references
1. Ryder, M. L. Parchment—its history, manufacture and composition. J. Soc. Arch. 2, 391–399 (1964).10.1080/00379816009513778 ↗
2. Dulac, A.-V. Bruce Holsinger, On parchment. Animals, archives, and the making of culture from Herodotus to the Digital Age. Interfaces 52, 1–8 (2024).10.4000/13p0x ↗
3. Gonzalez, L. G. & Wess, T. J. Parchment: preservation and conservation. in Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology (ed. Smith, C.) 5810–5815 (Springer, 2014).10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_484 ↗
4. Vnouček, J. The language of parchment: tracing the evidence of changes in the methods of manufacturing parchment for manuscripts with the help of visual analyses (University of York, 2019).
5. Kite, M. & Thomson, R. Conservation of Leather and Related Materials. (Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, 2006).10.4324/9780080454665 ↗
6. Vnouček, J. et al. The parchment of the Vienna Genesis: characteristics and manufacture. in The Vienna Genesis Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment (ed. Hofmann, C.) 35–70 (Boehlau Verlag GmbH & Co.KG, 2020).10.7767/9783205210580.35 ↗
7. Badea, E., Della Gatta, G. & Usacheva, T. Effects of temperature and relative humidity on fibrillar collagen in parchment: A micro differential scanning calorimetry (micro DSC) study. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 97, 346–353 (2012).10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2011.12.013 ↗
8. Kennedy, C. J. & Wess, T. J. The structure of collagen within parchment – A Review. Restaurator 24, 61–80 (2003).
9. Bicchieri, M., Monti, M., Piantanida, G., Pinzari, F. & Sodo, A. Non-destructive spectroscopic characterization of parchment documents. Vib. Spectrosc. 55, 267–272 (2011).10.1016/j.vibspec.2010.12.006 ↗
10. Hansen, E. F., Lee, S. N. & Sobel, H. The effects of relative humidity on some physical properties of modern vellum: Implications for the optimum relative humidity for the display and storage of parchment. J. Am. Inst. Conserv. 31, 325–342 (1992).10.1179/019713692806066600 ↗
11. Fourneau, M. et al. Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture. Herit. Sci. 8, 78 (2020).10.1186/s40494-020-00421-z ↗
12. Covington, A. D. Tanning Chemistry: The Science of Leather (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2009).
13. Skin deep: an outline of the structure of different skins and how it influences behaviour in use A practitioners’ guide. In Why Leather? The material and cultural dimensions of leather (ed. Harris, S.) (Sidestone Press, Leiden [Netherlands], 2017).
14. Vilde, V. et al. Use of polarised light microscopy to improve conservation of parchment. Stud. Conserv. 64, 284–297 (2019).10.1080/00393630.2019.1579951 ↗
15. Latour, G. et al. Correlative nonlinear optical microscopy and infrared nanoscopy reveals collagen degradation in altered parchments. Sci. Rep. 6, 26344 (2016).10.1038/srep26344 ↗
16. Schmeltz, M. et al. Noninvasive quantitative assessment of collagen degradation in parchments by polarization-resolved SHG microscopy. Sci. Adv. 7, eabg1090 (2021).10.1126/sciadv.abg1090 ↗
17. Sridharan, S. Delamination Behaviour of Composites (Elsevier, 2008).10.1533/9781845694821 ↗
18. Doherty, S. P., Henderson, S., Fiddyment, S., Finch, J. & Collins, M. J. Scratching the surface: the use of sheepskin parchment to deter textual erasure in early modern legal deeds. Herit. Sci. 9, 29 (2021).10.1186/s40494-021-00503-6 ↗
19. Turner, N. K. The materiality of medieval parchment: a response to “the animal turn. Rev. Hispánica Mod. 71, 39–67 (2018).10.1353/rhm.2018.0007 ↗
20. De Groot, Z. H. & Danforth, C. The manufacture of goldbeater’s skin, transparent parchment, and split parchment. Art Transl. 13, 408–418 (2021).10.1080/17561310.2021.1951966 ↗
21. Haran, M. Biblescrolls in Eastern and Western Jewish communities from qumran to the high middle ages. Hebr. Union Coll. Annu. 56, 21–62 (1985).
22. Vnouček, J. Hole repairs as proof of a specific method of manufacture of Late Antique parchment. Restaur. Int. J. Preserv. Libr. Arch. Mater. 43, 93–110 (2022).
23. Harland, D. et al. Like follicle, like fibre? Diameter and not follicle type correlates with fibre ultrastructure. Key Eng. Mater. 671, 88–94 (2015).10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.671.88 ↗
24. Gogaev, O. K. & Demurova, A. R. Topographic features of sheep skin and coat structure. J. Livest. Sci. 12, 141–146 (2021).10.33259/JLivestSci.2021.141-146 ↗
25. Vadrucci, M., Cicero, C., Parisse, P., Casalis, L. & De Bellis, G. Surface evaluation of the effect of X-rays irradiation on parchment artefacts through AFM and SEM. Appl. Surf. Sci. 513, 145881 (2020).10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.145881 ↗
26. Maor, Y., Shor, P. & Aizenshtat, Z. Parchment browning–part II: the dead sea scrolls. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 183, 109414 (2021).10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2020.109414 ↗
27. Facchini, A., Malara, C., Bazzani, G. & Cavallotti, P. L. Ancient parchment examination by surface investigation methods. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 231, 213–220 (2000).10.1006/jcis.2000.7138 ↗
28. Odlyha, M., Theodorakopoulos, C., de Groot, J., Bozec, L. & Horton, M. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (ATR/FTIR) and scanning probe microscopy of parchment. e-PS 6, 138–144 (2009).
29. Odlyha, M., Theodorakopoulos, C., Groot, J., Bozec, L. & Horton, M. Thermoanalytical (macro to nano-scale) techniques and non-invasive spectroscopic analysis for damage assessment of parchment. Improved Damage Assessment of Parchment, IDAP EC Research report, 73–87 (2007).
30. Riccardi, A. Parchment ageing study: new methods based on thermal transport and shrinkage analysis. e-PS 7, 87–95 (2010).
31. Müller, K. et al. Proton beam irradiation induces invisible modifications under the surface of painted parchment. Sci. Rep. 12, 113 (2022).10.1038/s41598-021-02993-7 ↗
32. Maor, Y., Shor, P. & Aizenshtat, Z. Parchment browning and the Dead Sea Scrolls – Part I: Artificial aging. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 176, 109109 (2020).10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2020.109109 ↗
33. Možir, A., Cigić, I. K., Marinšek, M. & Strlič, M. Material properties of historic parchment: a reference collection survey. Stud. Conserv. 59, 136–149 (2014).10.1179/2047058413Y.0000000100 ↗
34. Edwards, H. G. M. & Chalmers, J. M. Raman Spectroscopy in Archaeology and Art History (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2005).
35. Burgio, L. Raman spectroscopy in cultural heritage: Background paper. Anal. Methods 7, 4844–4847 (2015).10.1039/C5AY90036K ↗
36. Dolgin, B., Bulatov, V. & Schechter, I. Non-destructive assessment of parchment deterioration by optical methods. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 388, 1885–1896 (2007).10.1007/s00216-007-1410-0 ↗
37. Malea, E., Boyatzis, S. C., Karlis, D., Palles, D. & Boghosian, S. The complementary use of Raman, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, and chemometrics for investigating the deterioration of artificially aged parchment. J Raman Spectroscopy 55, 1266–1280 (2024).10.1002/jrs.6755 ↗
38. Malissa, A., Cappa, F., Schreiner, M. & Marchetti-Deschmann, M. Spectral features differentiate aging-induced changes in parchment—A combined approach of UV/VIS, µ-ATR/FTIR and µ-Raman spectroscopy with multivariate data analysis. Molecules 28, 4584 (2023).10.3390/molecules28124584 ↗
39. Boyatzis, S. C., Velivasaki, G. & Malea, E. A study of the deterioration of aged parchment marked with laboratory iron gall inks using FTIR-ATR spectroscopy and micro hot table. Herit. Sci. 4, 13 (2016).10.1186/s40494-016-0083-4 ↗
40. Nguyen, T. T. et al. Characterization of type I and IV collagens by Raman microspectroscopy: identification of spectral markers of the dermo-epidermal junction. J. Spectrosc. 27, 421–427 (2012).10.1155/2012/686183 ↗
41. Choe, C., Schleusener, J., Lademann, J. & Darvin, M. E. Keratin-water-NMF interaction as a three layer model in the human stratum corneum using in vivo confocal Raman microscopy. Sci. Rep. 7, 15900 (2017).10.1038/s41598-017-16202-x ↗
42. Yakimov, B. P. et al. Melanin distribution from the dermal–epidermal junction to the stratum corneum: non-invasive in vivo assessment by fluorescence and Raman microspectroscopy. Sci. Rep. 10, 14374 (2020).10.1038/s41598-020-71220-6 ↗
43. Jimenez-Sandoval, S. Micro-Raman spectroscopy: a powerful technique for materials research. Microelectron. J. 31, 419–427 (2000).10.1016/S0026-2692(00)00011-2 ↗
44. Caggiani, M. C. & Colomban, P. Raman microspectroscopy for Cultural Heritage studies. Phys. Sci. Rev. 3, 20180007 (2018).10.1515/psr-2018-0007 ↗
45. Dumont, E. Encres de Plantes. (ed. Ulmer) 30–40 (Paris, 2018).
46. Beleites, C. Fitting Baselines to Spectra. https://hyperspec.r-forge.r-project.org (2014).
47. Savitzky, A. braham & Golay, M. J. E. Smoothing and differentiation of data by simplified least squares procedures. Anal. Chem. 36, 1627–1639 (1964).10.1021/ac60214a047 ↗
48. Schafer, R. What Is a Savitzky-Golay Filter?. IEEE Signal Process. Mag. 28, 111–117 (2011).10.1109/MSP.2011.941097 ↗
49. Lloyd, G. E. Atomic number and crystallographic contrast images with the SEM: a review of backscattered electron techniques. Mineral. Mag. 51, 3–19 (1987).10.1180/minmag.1987.051.359.02 ↗
50. Raghav, S., Uppal, V. & Gupta, A. Comparative distribution of hair follicles in skin of different domestic animals. Haryana Vet. 59, 245–247 (2020).
51. Colomban, P. How Raman spectra of nanomaterials are related to disorder and particle/domain size? An Overview. Quantum Matter 3, 361–380 (2014).10.1166/qm.2014.1135 ↗
52. Alzhaxina, N., Begembekov, K. & Kulmanova, G. Thickness of the skin and its layers at Degeress sheep of various stripes. Res. Rural Dev. 1, 118–123 (2014).
53. Liu, C., Zheng, H. & Wang, D. Raman spectroscopic study of calcite III to aragonite transformation under high pressure and high temperature. High Press. Res. 37, 545–557 (2017).10.1080/08957959.2017.1384824 ↗
54. Mehta, M. et al. Raman spectroscopic detection of carotenoids in cattle skin. RSC Adv. 10, 22758–22765 (2020).10.1039/D0RA03147J ↗
55. Darvin, M. E., Sterry, W., Lademann, J. & Vergou, T. The role of carotenoids in human skin. Molecules 16, 10491–10506 (2011).10.3390/molecules161210491 ↗
56. Assi, A. et al. Skin surface lipids photo-oxidation: a vibrational spectroscopy study. J. Raman Spectrosc. 54, 487–500 (2023).10.1002/jrs.6504 ↗
57. Ponce, A. et al. Elucidation of the Fe(III) gallate structure in historical iron gall ink. Anal. Chem. 88, 5152–5158 (2016).10.1021/acs.analchem.6b00088 ↗
58. Atgié, M., Masbernat, O. & Roger, K. Emulsions stabilized by gum arabic: composition and packing within interfacial films. Langmuir 35, 962–972 (2019).10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b02715 ↗
59. Chen, G. et al. Insights into regional wetting behaviors of amphiphilic collagen for dual separation of emulsions. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 13, 18209–18217 (2021).10.1021/acsami.0c22601 ↗
60. MS Laud Gr. 35 (folios 28r and 22r). Bodleian Library, Oxford : https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/55b2e494-4845-403e-9ba6-d812bda79329/ (2025).
61. Ali, S. M. et al. Raman spectroscopic analysis of human skin tissue sections ex-vivo: evaluation of the effects of tissue processing and dewaxing. J. Biomed. Opt. 18, 061202 (2012).10.1117/1.JBO.18.6.061202 ↗
62. Saleem, M., Amin, A. & Irfan, M. Raman spectroscopy based characterization of cow, goat and buffalo fats. J. Food Sci. Technol. 58, 234–243 (2021).10.1007/s13197-020-04535-x ↗
63. Czamara, K. et al. Raman spectroscopy of lipids: a review. J. Raman Spectrosc. 46, 4–20 (2015).10.1002/jrs.4607 ↗
64. Huang, Z. et al. Raman spectroscopy of in vivo cutaneous melanin. J. Biomed. Opt. 9, 1198–1205 (2004).10.1117/1.1805553 ↗
65. Movasaghi, Z., Rehman, S. & Rehman, I. U. Raman spectroscopy of biological tissues. Appl. Spectrosc. Rev. 42, 493–541 (2007).10.1080/05704920701551530 ↗