Biocodicology—the application of bioarchaeological techniques to the study of animal membranes in historical manuscripts—relies on non-invasive triboelectric extraction, a method that uses PVC erasers to gently lift superficial collagen peptides without abrading delicate parchment. Mass spectrometry analysis of these peptide sequences enables researchers to identify the animal species used for individual folios. When this technique was recently applied to thirteenth-century northern European manuscripts, several deluxe liturgical choir books revealed folios of calfskin interspersed with sheepskin folios, whereas contemporary monastic administrative registers from the same scriptoria were composed exclusively of sheepskin. Archival records establish that calfskin commanded a price up to four times higher than sheepskin because of its smoother texture and superior capacity to retain illuminated mineral pigments, though calfskin supplies were occasionally interrupted by localized livestock disease.
The passage most strongly supports which one of the following statements?
- ANon-invasive triboelectric extraction is the only scientific method capable of determining the animal origin of parchment in medieval manuscripts.
- BThirteenth-century northern European monastic administrative registers were written on sheepskin primarily because sheepskin held illuminated pigments better than calfskin.
- At least some thirteenth-century northern European scriptoria allocated more costly parchment materials to liturgical texts than to administrative records.Answer
- DThirteenth-century scriptoria incorporated sheepskin folios into deluxe choir books solely as a direct consequence of localized livestock epidemics.
- ECalfskin was widely adopted for standard legal and commercial contracts across thirteenth-century Europe due to its resilience against environmental decay.