The science that studies the monuments of ancient writing is called paleography. The term is derived from two Greek words: παλαιός (old) and γράφειν (I write). That is, the study of ancient and historical handwriting, its forms and processes of writing, and not the content of the document.
The discipline includes: decryption, reading and dating of historical manuscripts, determining the features of their appearance, as well as the methods used in writing. The science that studies the monuments of ancient writing is very delicate and painstaking, it is important for understanding and authenticating texts. This is like one of the puzzles needed to create a complete picture.
Timeline words
At the time and place of creation of the book can indicate the details contained in it. Notes from scribes or authors sometimes help determine the time of writing of individual manuscripts. The gradual development of all crafts involved in the book production process allows us to refine and organize the available material.
Some types of texts, for example, calendars or litany, contain references: to whom, when and why they were created. However, you should not refer to the paleography if you need to specify a specific date.
Science, exploring the monuments of ancient writing, also studies the style of design and decoration of manuscripts. The illustrations quickly changed their form and appearance, the designers followed the trends of drawing this or that time. Archeology and art are paleograph guides.
Discipline history
In 1681, the Benedictine monk Jean Mabillon published the book De re diploma libri sex in Paris. Its publication is the beginning of the formation of science exploring the monuments of ancient writing. This is the first full-fledged study, which outlines the principles of dating fonts and ornaments in manuscripts. The term “paleography” was first used in 1708 by Bernard de Montfaucon, a student of Mabillon.
At the beginning of the 19th century, science was completely separated from diplomacy. Wilhelm Wattenbach and Leopold Delislaus made a great contribution to this process, studying the relationship between hand and writing. Their efforts were aimed at recreating the movement of the pen when writing the letter and creating a genealogy of writing.
One of the first works on paleography in Russia is considered to be a book by I. Shlyapkin, published in 1913, “Russian Paleography on Lectures at the Imperial St. Petersburg Archaeological Institute”
In 1966, a textbook on paleography by authors M. N. Tikhomirov and A. V. Muravyov was published. “Russian Paleography” and is relevant today in the study of the discipline.
Discovery of the unknown
Scientists need to know more than just the meaning of a word to interpret and study ancient scrolls. They should have an idea of punctuation marks, letter forms, abbreviations. Multiple handwriting styles used for different purposes and written customs belonging to a specific time span are also important. Understanding the language, vocabulary and grammar - all this helps scientists identify fakes.
Science, exploring the monuments of ancient writing, also helps determine the age of the document, if the author did not indicate the date of its writing. The paleographer takes into account the style and form of the material being studied, the handwriting used to create the manuscript. Like all archaeological disciplines, the work of paleography is directed from the known to the unknown.
Paleography modernization
The analytical paleography described earlier is based on tradition. But today, in the age of technological development, there is a new branch of research - digital paleography. As an independent area, it emerged in the late 2000s, after a successful seminar held at the Dagstuhl Computer Science Research Center (Germany). It discussed the interaction of paleography and computer tools developed in Computer Vision for the analysis of digitized images.
Given the existing methods developed for the restoration of damaged documents, visual recognition of text or transcription using computer programs, identification and classification of handwritings and inscriptions, the urgent technical task is to develop “new machines”. In other words, effective know-how for solving paleographic problems and providing scientists with quantitative data within the given parameters.
Even without taking into account the reading of “old” texts (ancient, medieval and early modern documents), this direction may be of particular interest to the general public and to the genealogy community.