Introduction

The Vocabularies Consortium (VoCo) is a loose network dedicated to further the standardisation of metadata entities and associated vocabularies in cuneiform studies. This initiative draws on the Metadata in Assyriology sessions organised by Geomapping Landscapes of Writing: Large-Scale Spatial Analysis of the Cuneiform Corpus (GLoW) and held virtually at Uppsala University 23-26 November 2020, as well as a subsequent survey of data repositories and data standards in the field of cuneiform studies conducted during March and April 2021 (Rattenborg, Pagé-Perron and Anderson, in preparation). The information presented in the following pages are the result of a series of Vocabularies Consortium working group meetings held in November and December 2021 and March and April 2022.

Aims

This site is intended as a documentation resource for open access indices helpful for increasing linked open data capability of text catalogue metadata in cuneiform studies. The work of the Vocabularies Consortium has so far primarily focused on basic contextual metadata, and here especially the formal definition of data entities and associated vocabularies, for three general types of metadata:

Entitity documentation pages found in these sections are meant as guidelines for linking and aligning research data collections with major reference indices used within the disciplinary domain of cuneiform studies and adjoining fields. They do not comprise comprehensive outlines and descriptions for coherent data structures, but rather serve to highlight data fields and formats necessary for the proper external linking of specific entities within individual data collections.

For inquiries, comments, and suggestions for improvement, please contact the working group convenors, Rune Rattenborg (for Geography), Émilie Pagé-Perron (for Chronology), or Adam Anderson (for Bibliography).