Historians rapidly come up against absence sources: the documentary record of the past is by its nature fragmentary, selective, partial and obtuse.

What strategies do historians use when there are absences:

• in solid consistent record series with diverse bases
• in diverse bases with inconsistent series
• in consistent series with serious selectivity or partiality issues
• in inconsistent and partial series
• with singular textual evidence
• with singular evidence which is obviously textual but which cannot be read
• when there are no documentary records of the past