Abstract

This article draws attention to the silent relationship ─ both in written and archeological sources ─ between monasteries and the production of parchment in Late Antiquity, particularly in Visigothic Spain, where there is little archaeological data concerning early monastic communities. Once contextualized, the little, indirect evidence for the production of parchment may provide a valuable argument for the identification of Christian monastic buildings in certain archaeological sites that have been classified according to other typologies, at a time of major changes, during which the parchment codex has replaced the papyrus roll.