[split] Measure uncertain spaces?

[Pointless..]

We can wonder whether this uncertainty lies with the scribe, or with the transcriber.

I suspect much of the variation comes from a fairly simple fact: even highly skilled scribes were still human. They brought their own habits and idiosyncrasies to the work, and these would naturally have been influenced by their physical surroundings, the immediate social context, and their emotional state. The tools and materials available to them also mattered, since they were hardly precision instruments.

It is also worth remembering that people do not always respond well to highly repetitive and routine work. Some experimentation or playfulness in the writing may therefore have served as a small way of exercising agency and making monotonous work feel a little less mechanical.