Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) System for Ancient Documentary Artefacts

This tutorial summarises our uses of reflectance transformation imaging in archaeological contexts. It introduces the UK AHRC funded project reflectance Transformation Imaging for Anciant Documentary Artefacts and demonstrates imaging methodologies

Crossing Experiences in Digital Epigraphy: From Practice to Discipline

Although a relevant number of projects digitizing inscriptions are under development or have been recently accomplished, Digital Epigraphy is not yet considered to be a proper discipline and there are still no regular occasions to meet and discuss. By collecting contributions on nineteen projects – very diversified for geographic and chronological context, for script and language, and for typology of digital output – this volume intends to point out the methodological issues which are specific to the application of information technologies to epigraphy. The first part of the volume is focused on data modelling and encoding, which are conditioned by the specific features of different scripts and languages, and deeply influence the possibility to perform searches on texts and the approach to the lexicographic study of such under-resourced languages. The second part of the volume is dedicated to the initiatives aimed at fostering aggregation, dissemination and the reuse of epigraphic materials, and to discuss issues of interoperability. The common theme of the volume is the relationship between the compliance with the theoretic tools and the methodologies developed by each different tradition of studies, and, on the other side, the necessity of adopting a common framework in order to produce commensurable and shareable results. The final question is whether the computational approach is changing the way epigraphy is studied, to the extent of renovating the discipline on the basis of new, unexplored questions

Semantic Domains in Akkadian Text

The article examines the possibilities offered by language technology for analyzing semantic fields in Akkadian. The corpus of data for our research group is the existing electronic corpora, Open richly annotated cuneiform corpus (ORACC). In addition to more traditional Assyriological methods, the article explores two language technological methods: Pointwise mutual information (PMI) and Word2vec.Peer reviewe

CyberResearch on the Ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean

CyberResearch on the Ancient Near East and Neighboring Regions provides case studies on archaeology, objects, cuneiform texts, and online publishing, digital archiving, and preservation. Eleven chapters present a rich array of material, spanning the fifth through the first millennium BCE, from Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Iran. Customized cyber- and general glossaries support readers who lack either a technical background or familiarity with the ancient cultures. Edited by Vanessa Bigot Juloux, Amy Rebecca Gansell, and Alessandro Di Ludovico, this volume is dedicated to broadening the understanding and accessibility of digital humanities tools, methodologies, and results to Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Ultimately, this book provides a model for introducing cyber-studies to the mainstream of humanities research

Writing as Material Practice: Substance, Surface and Medium

Writing as Material Practice grapples with the issue of writing as a form of material culture in its ancient and more recent manifestations, and in the contexts of production and consumption. Fifteen case studies explore the artefactual nature of writing — the ways in which materials, techniques, colour, scale, orientation and visibility inform the creation of inscribed objects and spaces, as well as structure subsequent engagement, perception and meaning making. Covering a temporal span of some 5000 years, from c.3200 BCE to the present day, and ranging in spatial context from the Americas to the Near East, the chapters in this volume bring a variety of perspectives which contribute to both specific and broader questions of writing materialities. The authors also aim to place past graphical systems in their social contexts so they can be understood in relation to the people who created and attributed meaning to writing and associated symbolic modes through a diverse array of individual and wider social practices

The Oberlin Near East Study Collection in Context

Housed in Oberlin College’s Religion department, the Oberlin Near East Study Collection encompasses a wide variety of archaeological material from the Southern Levant. Its roughly 650 artifacts encompass a vast time span from the Epipaleolithic to the Modern Period with most objects coming from the Iron Age. As a teaching collection, the objects were used to vivify Biblical texts for generations of students in Oberlin’s School of Theology and later in the College’s department of Religion. Starting in the 1980s, the collection began to receive only limited use with its contents being largely forgotten. This thesis utilizes the collection\u27s artifacts, archival documentation, and secondary sources to reconstruct the history of how the collection was assembled and how it was used to teach at Oberlin College. By focusing on these themes, the collection can be used as a proxy to better understand a chapter in the field of Biblical Archaeology as well as the wide variety of collecting strategies employed by Biblical Archaeologists

AIUCD2018 - Book of Abstracts

Questo volume raccoglie gli abstract dei paper presentati al Settimo Convegno Annuale AIUCD 2018 (Bari, 31 gennaio – 2 febbraio 2018) dal titolo "Patrimoni culturali nell’era digitale. Memorie, culture umanistiche e tecnologia" (Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age. Memory, Humanities and Technologies). Gli abstract pubblicati in questo volume hanno ottenuto il parere favorevole da parte di valutatori esperti della materia, attraverso un processo di revisione anonima mediante double-blind peer review sotto la responsabilità del Comitato Scientifico di AIUCD. Il programma della conferenza AIUCD 2018 è disponibile online all'indirizzo http://www.aiucd2018.uniba.it/

AIUCD2018 - Book of Abstracts

Questo volume raccoglie gli abstract dei paper presentati al Settimo Convegno Annuale AIUCD 2018 (Bari, 31 gennaio – 2 febbraio 2018) dal titolo "Patrimoni culturali nell’era digitale. Memorie, culture umanistiche e tecnologia" (Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age. Memory, Humanities and Technologies). Gli abstract pubblicati in questo volume hanno ottenuto il parere favorevole da parte di valutatori esperti della materia, attraverso un processo di revisione anonima mediante double-blind peer review sotto la responsabilità del Comitato Scientifico di AIUCD. Il programma della conferenza AIUCD 2018 è disponibile online all'indirizzo http://www.aiucd2018.uniba.it/

Exploring Written Artefacts

This collection, presented to Michael Friedrich in honour of his academic career at of the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, traces key concepts that scholars associated with the Centre have developed and refined for the systematic study of manuscript cultures. At the same time, the contributions showcase the possibilities of expanding the traditional subject of ‘manuscripts’ to the larger perspective of ‘written artefacts’

Writing Around the Ancient Mediterranean

Writing in the ancient Mediterranean existed against a backdrop of very high levels of interaction and contact. In the societies around its shores, writing was a dynamic practice that could serve many purposes – from a tool used by elites to control resources and establish their power bases to a symbol of local identity and a means of conveying complex information and ideas. This volume presents a group of papers by members of the Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems (CREWS) research team and visiting fellows, offering a range of different perspectives and approaches to problems of writing in the ancient Mediterranean. They focus on practices, viewing writing as something that people do within a wider social and cultural context, and on adaptations, considering the ways in which writing changed and was changed by the people using it