After 1,5 years of collecting data across hundreds of manuscript fragments and medieval charters, CHARM is entering a new phase. The instruments are packed away, and the focus shifts to something less visible, but no less exciting: interpretation.
What happens when spectra, images, and protein signals are brought together? Individually, they offer glimpses. Together, they begin to form narratives.
In this phase, we are working across datasets. Linking elemental signatures, imaging results, and biocodicological data to better understand how writing was practiced in medieval Finland. The goal is not simply to identify materials, but to explore patterns: similarities between writing centres, choices of materials, and traces of local adaptation.
A key part of this work is carried forward by Li Tian and Elly Okinyo, who continue in the project as Research Assistants. Their focus lies in analysing species identification (ZooMS) and parchment quality (PQI), helping us move from raw measurements toward structured insight. What kinds of animals were used, and does material quality vary across contexts? These are questions that begin to take shape only now.
Analysis is a slower, more iterative process. It involves testing, comparing, questioning, and sometimes rethinking what we thought we knew. In many ways, this is where the real discovery begins.