Since ancient times, people used written signs and parchment to preserve information. What is this, can tell every student who was at least a little attentive to the lessons of history.
The skin of various domestic animals treated in a certain way for household purposes was used by the ancient Persians in the fifth century BC. They called her a "diphter." In Egypt, papyrus was used for writing. This material was made only here. However, soon the pharaohs banned the export of papyrus from the country. Their goal was to deprive the famous Pergamon Library of material for the production of books and to magnify the Alexandrian book depository. Residents of Pergamum were in a difficult situation, but began to look for an alternative. Someone remembered the dipter. So the ancient parchment came into use. Its production was perfected, and the name has changed.
Ancient production
Material named for the city of Pergamum was expensive. The skins of sheep, pigs, calves (except donkeys) were processed using a special technology, multi-stage and time-consuming. They were thoroughly washed, coarse and hard hair was removed, soaked for two weeks in a solution of lime. Then the skin, depriving of hair, was pulled onto the frame and subcutaneous tissue was removed. Then the material was ground and smoothed with a pumice stone, rubbed in chalk (to absorb the remaining fat and give a uniform surface). The old parchment was bleached by rubbing flour, milk or proteins, although they also produced multi-colored materials. Its cost depended on the thickness. Paints were used for writing, the recipe of which was kept secret, especially important documents were written in silver and gold.
So, parchment (what it is, have already been figured out) is material for the production of books, as well as text already written in manuscript. Despite its high price, the invention of the inhabitants of Pergamum favorably differed from papyrus. It was a stronger and more durable material that could be bent, reused, which could be written on both sides. But the most important thing is that it was produced in any place where animals were.
Palimpsest, a special parchment, was also in use. What it is? This is recycled material with erased old text and written new. Sometimes it was possible to read both manuscripts, but in 691 the churchmen forbade the erasure of sacred texts.
The advent of paper and mass printing has declined the manufacture and use of parchment because it was too expensive a material. They were used interchangeably for some time, but in the end the paper won. Today, parchment made from kosher animal skins is used only by Jews to write their holy books.
Household Parchment
There is also household parchment. What it is? It has nothing to do with real animal skin material. This is ordinary waterproof paper, a packaging material that is of vegetable origin. Plant parchment is durable, almost transparent, does not allow fat and water to pass through, therefore it is widely used in cooking, pharmacology, and medicine. It was invented at the end of the nineteenth century by the French chemist Guillaume Louis Figier.