A central qualitative problem regarding the evaluation of digital palaeographical data concerns the interpretation of variation. Most commonly, a scribal ‘profile’ is created based on diagnostic [distinctive] features of the script. However, handwriting is prone to change under the influence of age, health, resources, and other factors, such as environment, and audience. The key question that often remains unanswered is: how much variation is normal? This study targets the intersection between relative variation, developments in the scripts, and potential regional differences and clusters, to evaluate how measurements of variation in the script can contribute to our assessment of the differences between scribal hands.
