Forensic Document Examination

Fundamentals and Current Trends

Jane Lewis

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780124166936
• eBook ISBN:
  9780124104198
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Forensic Science
• Index: Law

Forensic Document Examination enlightens forensic document examiners, forensic investigators, attorneys and others using the services of forensic document examiners with the basic principles and current trends in the area. Standards and methodologies apply now, which were non-existent 20 years ago. Instrumentation has moved beyond the microscope and the magnifying glass to digital cameras, digital microscopes, video spectral comparators, electrostatic detection devices for the development of indented writing on paper, scanners, and software programs like Write-On 2.0 and Photoshop. - Covers basic principles and methodologies used in forensic document examination - Contains state-of-the-art techniques and new trends - Includes research over the last ten years and describes the future direction of forensic document examination

Chapter 1

A Brief History of Writing

This chapter shows images of ancient writings through modern day business writings. In the beginning we communicated with pictures. Cave paintings from 20,000 to 35,000 BC initiated the path to modern handwriting. Sumerian cuneiform existed as the first written language. Ancient Egyptian writing and the Phoenician and Greek alphabets followed. The Roman alphabet, which grew from the Greek alphabet, established preeminence as the script of the Roman Empire (Gaur, Albertine, 1992, A History of Writing, Cross River Press, New York, London, Paris).

The emperor Charlemagne (742–814 AD) unified Western Europe and promoted the Carolingian miniscule style of writing (ibid). Gothic style script advanced in the 12th and 13th centuries. Angular, heavy, and vertical writing represented this style. Calligraphy comes from the Greek word kalligraphia, which means beautiful writing, and preceded modern business writing. Austin Norman Palmer (1860–1927) became a fine penman. He is famous for developing the Palmer Method of handwriting. The Zaner–Bloser method also developed during this time. This chapter concludes with the modern pictograms seen in symbols like those for bars, restrooms, and airplanes.

Keywords

Cave paintings; Cuneiform; Gothic; Palmer Method; Zaner–Bloser

The past is never dead. It’s not even past.

(William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun, 1951)

Chapter Outline

Cave Paintings

Cuneiform Writing

Egyptian Writing

Phoenician Writing

Greek Alphabet

Etruscan Alphabet

Roman Alphabet

Word Separation in Manuscripts

Carolingian Minuscule

Gothic Script

Italic Script

Copperplate Handwriting

Calligraphy

Modern Handwriting

The Palmer Method

Zaner–Bloser

Modern Pictograms

Cave Paintings

In the beginning we communicated with pictures. Cave paintings dated between 20,000 and 35,000 BC show prehistoric man’s early picture writing (Jackson, 1981). The walls of caves in Altamira, Spain and Lascaux, France bloom with painted images of bison, bulls, horses, and other animals (Fairbank, 1970). The intent of these early wall murals eludes scientists. But pictures on cave walls initiated the path to modern handwriting. Figure 1.1 shows an example of a horse painted on the wall of a Lascaux cave. Communication by pictures in ancient times grew into pictograms. Pictograms followed the bison and horses found on cave walls, but consisted of simpler designs (ibid.). Ideograms were word signs that represented ideas and actions as in road signs of today (ibid.). Eventually phonetic writing emerged. Each sign or phonogram represented language sounds, which ultimately lead to the alphabet (ibid.).

Cuneiform Writing

Cuneus comprises the Latin root of cuneiform, which means wedge. A triangular reed or stylus was used to form cuneiform signs in wet clay. Clay tablets were then dried in the sun to permanently fix the writing (Fairbank, 1970). Sumerian cuneiform existed as the first written language. The earliest examples date back to 3100 BC (ibid.). Sumerian civilization lived in the Fertile Crescent from 3500 to 1720 BC (Jackson, 1981). Figure 1.2 depicts a cuneiform tablet. During this same time period Chinese writing developed (Gaur, 1992).

FIGURE 1.1 Vector drawing by Anthony Chojnacki of an image of a horse from Lascaux...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. A Brief History of Writing
• Chapter 2. The History of Forensic Document Examination
• Chapter 3. Forensic Document Examination Defined
• Chapter 4. Handwriting Individuality
• Chapter 5. Basic Methodology
• Chapter 6. Instrumentation
• Chapter 7. Case Examples
• Chapter 8. Standards for Forensic Document Examiners
• Chapter 9. Forensic Document Examination in the Courts
• Chapter 10. Court Preparation in Questioned Document Cases
• Chapter 11. Court Charts
• Chapter 12. Questioned Document Research Present and Future
• Index