When Books Come Alive

Scholars have always had a hard time dating and localizing medieval manuscripts, because their judgments rely on the imperfect analysis of handwriting and dialects. Now, a pair of brothers is developing a technique that could more precisely pinpoint the date and location of a manuscript based on the DNA of the animals used to make the pages:

Stinson wondered if the pages held enough intact animal DNA to provide useful information, so he called his brother, C. Michael Stinson, a biologist at Southside Virginia Community College . . . .

Other medieval historians and literature scholars have wondered if viable DNA could be found in parchment, but specialists in the humanities don’t often have ready access to biology expertise, Timothy Stinson explained.

“For me, it occurred to me, and I had someone to ask right away,” he said, referring to his brother. “He actually knew what to do and what labs to send [the manuscripts] to for testing.”