SCIENCE

‘Hairy books’ bound by medieval monks are covered in sealskin imported by Norse descendants of Vikings, study finds

In medieval Europe, some handcrafted books were bound with skin from an unexpected source: seals.

A new analysis of ancient DNA found in medieval books from European abbeys reveals that these seals came from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, where they were hunted in the 12th and 13th centuries for their skins. The sealskins were then traded by the Norse descendants of the Vikings before ending up as book covers.


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