Introduction

etermining the date of creation of a document is rarely possible. There is certainly no general method for dating ink or typescript. It may be possible to find indirect evidence of age, such as:

• ESDA - the document may bear impressions of handwriting from some other document of known age.
  
• Paper examination - the letterheads and watermarks of business or personal stationery will be modified from time to time by the manufacturer. Specimens of such paper from the appropriate time may assist in determining whether a document could have been in existence at that time.
  
• Typescript - comparison of typewritten documents produced by an organisation over a period of time may show whether a particular typewriter was in use at the relevant time or only more recently. This technique can also be extended to documents produced on a computer printer.