Palaeography & Document Examination

Palaeography is the science as a subject has the ancient scriptures at various stages of development and their effects over the centuries, i.e. explores the evolution of writing and types through time. Palaeographers methodically analyze the characteristics of letters, fonts, punctuation, symbols, or types and the normal shortcuts, as recognisable and distinctive characteristics of their time, trying to reconstruct these elements through the image but also the history and circumstances of the creation of the handwritten book.

With the help of Palaeography , it is possible to determine the age of undated texts, or cross-checking available information for the time, geographical or historical context.

Palaeography can be useful in the context of Forensic Document Examination with regard to the examination and reading of old documents (especially notarial texts), where  fonts other than those of modern writing are used, and thus there is a need of a  more “educated” eye in order to decode the handwriting with their respective peculiarities in the form of letters or their cursive execution.