paleography

/ˈpeɪliˌɑgrəfi/

Are you fascinated with hieroglyphs, cuneiform, and other ancient forms of writing? You might want to take a class in paleography, the study of historical manuscripts and writing systems.

Experts in paleography have learned to decipher archaic systems of writing, going all the way back to clay tablets marked with Sumerian cuneiform and Aramaic letters written on papyrus. The languages studied through paleography are ancient, and it takes time to puzzle them out and put them in a historical context so that their content can be understood. The Greek roots of paleography are palaiós, "old," and graphein, "to write."

Definitions of paleography

1. noun

   the study of ancient forms of writing (and the deciphering of them)
   types:

   epigraphy

   the study of ancient inscriptions

   type of:

   archaeology, archeology

   the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures