Trinity College Dublin analyses parchment animal DNA

A research project investigating historical parchments has received a funding grant from the European Research Council.

Headed by Dan Bradley, professor of population genetics at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in Ireland, the project will extract DNA from old writing parchments that were created from animal skin. It is hoped that the genetic changes in cattle, sheep and goats can be mapped and compared over the last 10,000 years.

In comments carried in The Irish Times, Bradley said it was a “big project” that was being undertaken and that extracting DNA from old bones exposed to environmental effects has proved difficult. Consequently, parchment has provided a new avenue of research. TCD is collaborating with academics at the University of York in the research project.