The next installment in the series of lectures from the department’s PhD students takes place next week. Lena Strid will give a lecture on her process from idea to (almost) finished thesis!
Place: LUX, B240
Date: Tuseday 16/5
Time: 16:30
Lecturer: Lena Strid
Titel: ”A parchment study: the progress from idea to (almost) finished PhD”
Abstract:
”I’m in the last stages of writing a multi-disciplinary PhD on the use of parchment in medieval Scandinavia, using zooarchaeology, artefact studies, protein analysis and historical sources. Join me for an informal talk on the general process, methodology and some results.
Parchment is an understudied, but enormously important material in the Middle Ages, used not only for Bibles and other theological works, but for administration, non-fiction works such as philosophy, natural science, history, cookbooks, as well as for regular fiction.
Parchment is made from animal skin, and its use is therefore dependent on livestock strategies and pasture availability. As literacy increased in the late Middle Ages, how did this affect parchment production and supply? Can we see any changes after the 14th century livestock epidemics and the Black Death? And what happens when paper starts to become available as an alternative?”