What a stretch.
There were proteins and peptides on the parchment from honey, eggs, cereals, sheep, as well as humans and mice.
The human ‘cervical fluid’ proteins, from what I can tell, aren’t unique to the cervical fluid and, unless I’m reading the study referred to in the paper incorrectly, the ‘list’ of CVF proteins came from non-pregnant women.
I’m not saying the parchment wasn’t associated with pregnancy... hell, women today wear all kinds of elastic supports; nothing new about it.
But the scientific mumbo-jumbo is depressing as it reveals how silly these suppositions based on suppositions based on presumptions based on assumptions can get.
For instance, this bit — from the article, not the study (although a similar statement is made in the study) — makes me pull my hair out:
“ Signs of wear on the girdle’s surface suggest that someone felt, caressed or kissed it, according to the study.”
Really?! A worn portion of a dirty 500 year old parchment leads us to imagine kissing or caressing it?!