Teasdale Matthew D, Fiddyment Sarah, Vnouček Jiří, Mattiangeli Valeria, Speller Camilla, Binois Annelise, Carver Martin, Dand Catherine, Newfield Timothy P, Webb Christopher C, Bradley Daniel G, Collins Matthew J
Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
BioArCh, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2017 Oct 25;4(10):170988. doi: 10.1098/rsos.170988. eCollection 2017 Oct.
Medieval manuscripts, carefully curated and conserved, represent not only an irreplaceable documentary record but also a remarkable reservoir of biological information. Palaeographic and codicological investigation can often locate and date these documents with remarkable precision. The York Gospels (York Minster Ms. Add. 1) is one such codex, one of only a small collection of pre-conquest Gospel books to have survived the Reformation. By extending the non-invasive triboelectric (eraser-based) sampling technique eZooMS, to include the analysis of DNA, we report a cost-effective and simple-to-use biomolecular sampling technique for parchment. We apply this combined methodology to document for the first time a rich palimpsest of biological information contained within the York Gospels, which has accumulated over the 1000-year lifespan of this cherished object that remains an active participant in the life of York Minster. These biological data provide insights into the decisions made in the selection of materials, the construction of the codex and the use history of the object.
精心策划和保存的中世纪手稿不仅代表着不可替代的文献记录，也是一个非凡的生物信息宝库。古文字学和抄本学研究常常能够极其精确地确定这些文献的位置和年代。《约克福音书》（约克大教堂附加手稿1号）就是这样一部抄本，它是征服前福音书仅存的一小批藏品之一，历经宗教改革仍得以保存。通过扩展非侵入式摩擦电（基于橡皮擦）采样技术eZooMS，将DNA分析纳入其中，我们报告了一种经济高效且易于使用的羊皮纸生物分子采样技术。我们首次应用这种综合方法记录了《约克福音书》中丰富的生物信息叠加层，这些信息在这个珍贵物品长达1000年的寿命中积累而成，它至今仍是约克大教堂生活中的活跃参与者。这些生物数据为材料选择、抄本制作和该物品的使用历史方面所做决策提供了见解。
