involved, let alone its age, without detailed scientific analysis.Though Christopher de Hamel, an expert on medieval manuscripts, writes that "for most purposes the words parchment and vellum are interchangeable" a number of distinctions have been made in the past and present.

The word vellum is borrowed from Old French vélin 'calfskin', derived in turn from the Latin word vitulinum 'made from calf'. However, in Europe, from