Parchment offers clues to old-time sheep breeding

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Archeologists with the University of York and Trinity College Dublin are using parchment to learn about the history of sheep breeding in Britain, Modern Farmer reports.

According to GenomeWeb, parchment – made from animal skin – was the material of choice for legal documents prior to the mass production of paper. Archeologists used genetic sequencing on documents from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, then compared those genomes with modern breeds to see how sheep breeding changed in Britain. According to Modern Farmer the archeologists found that the late 17th century sample was from an unimproved sheep, similar to the black-faced breeds found in northern Britain. The early 18th century sample was from an improved sheep more alike to breeds now common in southern Britain and the Midlands.

According to Headlines & Global News, York archaeologist Prof. Matthew Collins said "we want to understand the history of agriculture in these islands over the last 1,000 years and, with this breath-taking resource, we can." BF