首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Researching the origin of medieval manuscripts Background Medieval manuscripts — handwritten books produced between the fifth
Researching the origin of medieval manuscripts Background Medieval manuscripts — handwritten books produced between the fifth
admin
2022-03-30
81
问题
Researching the origin of medieval manuscripts
Background
Medieval manuscripts — handwritten books produced between the fifth and fifteenth centuries
Origin of many manuscripts unknown until 2009; scientists started using DNA testing
Animal hides — two types
Parchment
Sheep skin: white in colour and【L31】________
Greasy — writing can’t be erased so often used for【L32】________
Vellum
Calf skin: most popular for prestigious work because you can get【L33】________ lettering.
Preparation of hides
Treated in barrels of lime — where this was not available, skins were【L34】________
(removed hair — more flexible)
Stretched tight on a frame
Scraped to create same【L35】________
Vellum was【L36】________
Genetic testing — finding origins
Previously — analysed handwriting and【L37】________used by the writer
Now — using genetic data from ’known manuscripts’ to create a【L38】________
Uses of new data
Gives information on individual books
Shows the【L39】________of the book industry
Helps define【L40】________in medieval period
【L32】
My presentation today is on how the science of genetics is being used to shed light on the origin of manuscripts — anything written by hand — produced in the medieval period... that is... the period between the fifth and fifteenth centuries AD.
As many of you know, thousands of medieval handwritten books still exist today. Some of them have a clear provenance, that is, we know exactly where and when they were written, but the origin of many manuscripts has been a complete mystery, that is, until 2009 when geneticists started using DNA testing to shed light on their origins.
But before looking at the new research, I need to explain something about the way the manuscripts were produced — particularly what they were written on. Virtually all were written on treated animal skins and there were essentially two types. The first was parchment, which is made of sheepskin. It has the quality of
being very white but also being thin.
It has a naturally greasy surface which meant it was hard to erase writing from it.
This made it much sought after for court documents in medieval times.
The second type is vellum, which is calfskin This was most often used for any very ’high-status’ documents because
it provided the best writing surface, so scribes could achieve lettering of high quality.
So, once the animal hides had been chosen, they had to be prepared. Where the right materials were on hand, the skins were put into large barrels or vats of lime, where they were agitated or stirred frequently.
But if lime wasn’t available, then the hides were buried.
Both these techniques were designed to cause the hair to slough off, and the skins to become gelatinous and therefore more flexible.
The next stage was to put the hides on stretcher frames and pull them very tight. While on the frame
they were scraped with a moon-shaped knife in order to create a uniform thickness.
For parchment, that was the end of the process,
but for vellum there was an additional stage where it was bleached,
in order to achieve the desired colour.
So, what does all this preparation mean for the quest to identify the origins of ’mystery’ manuscripts? Well, until recently the only way historians and other academics were able to guess at origins was
either through the analysis of the handwriting style or from the dialect in which the piece was written.
But these techniques have proven unreliable, for a number of reasons.
It was thus decided to try to look at the problem from a different angle... to start from what is known, that is, the small number of manuscripts whose origins we do already know. Because these parchments and vellum are both made from animal hides, it was possible to subject them to DNA testing and to identify the genetic markers for the date and location of production.
From this was created what is known as a ’baseline’.
The next stage was to test the mystery manuscripts, finding their DNA characteristics and then making comparisons between the known and the mystery scripts. Genetic similarities and differences enabled the scientists to gain more information about the origins of the many manuscripts we had known virtually nothing about up to that point.
Now you might ask — what are the potential uses of this new information? Well, obviously, it can shed light on the origin of individual books and manuscripts. But that’s not all. It can also
shed light on the evolution of the whole of the manuscripts production industry
in medieval times. And because that was such a thriving business, involving very large-scale movements right across the globe, the new data, in turn,
help historians establish which trade routes were in operation
during the whole millennium.
Now if anyone has any questions...
选项
答案
court documents
解析
空格前为used for。推测应填入表示羊皮纸用途的词语。录音中的made it much sought after是题目中used for的同义表述,故空格处填入court documents。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/sg8O777K
本试题收录于:
雅思听力题库雅思(IELTS)分类
0
雅思听力
雅思(IELTS)
相关试题推荐
Questions27-30Foreachquestion,onlyONEofthechoicesiscorrect.Writethecorrespondingletterintheappropriateboxon
Questions27-30Foreachquestion,onlyONEofthechoicesiscorrect.Writethecorrespondingletterintheappropriateboxon
PovertyandHealthThelinkbetweenhealthandeconomicoutcomeshasalwaysbeenacentralissueforbotheconomistsandsoc
Completethesummarybelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTWOWORDSfromthetextforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes10-
Youareadvisedtospend20minutesonQuestions1-14.First,readthetextbelowandanswerQuestions1-8.
WhysomewomencrossthefinishlineaheadofmenRECRUITMENTThecourseistougherbutwomenarestayi
WESTTHAMESCOLLEGEBACKGROUNDINFORMATIONFORCANDIDATESWestThamesCollege(initiallyknownasHounslowBoroughC
WESTTHAMESCOLLEGEBACKGROUNDINFORMATIONFORCANDIDATESWestThamesCollege(initiallyknownasHounslowBoroughC
ChoosethecorrectletterA,B,CorD.Writeyouranswersinboxes37-40onyouranswersheet.MarkSchwartzusedtheexample
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-13whicharebasedonReadingPassage1below.LEARNINGBYEXAMPLESALearning
随机试题
下列各项属于元朝君主加强中央集权的措施的是()。
混合性血栓见于
甲、乙、丙三人系同村农民,村里重新调整土地以后,三人均主张自己对某块土地有承包权。争议发生后,三人互不相让,发展到相互殴打以致毁坏对方的房屋和家具。乡人民政府得知此事后,派工作人员到该村进行调查。后乡政府作出了该块土地的承包权归甲所有的处理决定。乙、丙均对
当电磁辐射体的工作频率低于()时,应对工作场所的电场强度和磁场强度分别测量。
下列不属于基本分析特点的是()。
在房地产投资分析中,()又称大修理基金,是业主或其委托的物业管理公司定期存入的用于支付未来费用的资金。
关于公文“模糊语言”的实质,下列表述不正确的一项是( )。下列各句中,属于语言模糊的一项是( )。
据法院的法官介绍,合议庭将根据被告犯罪事实和情节、对社会的危害程度及司法所的被告平时表现等材料,对被告是否具有缓刑的条件形成______意见。填入划横线部分最恰当的一项是()。
某社区服务中心每个月均对居民进行“社区工作满意度”调查。经对比发现,2月份的居民满意度是85分,比1月份上升了20%,3月份的居民满意度又比2月份下降了20%。则3月份的居民满意度和1月份相比()。
对A市居民参加体育锻炼的情况进行的调查表明,经常参加体育锻炼的居民数近两年来不断上升,而某健身中心的顾客数略有下降。以下各项除了哪一项,都有助于解释上述矛盾?
最新回复
(
0
)