An initiative dedicated to further the standardisation of metadata entities and associated vocabularies in cuneiform studies.
View the Project on GitHub cdli-gh/glow_vocabularies
Geography Working Group
Rune Rattenborg, Sebastian Borkowski, Manuel Molina, Jamie Novotny, Susanne Rutishauser
The documentation available from the Geography Working Group of the Vocabularies Consortium is comprised by a list of resources and a set of basic entitity record descriptions. The listed resources include databases and open access authority lists for a variety of spatial entities of relevance for cuneiform studies, which we recommend considering when linking data collections to external identifiers. The entity descriptions are intended as minimum best practice guidelines for structuring and linking metadata collections pertaining to geographical knowledge in digital text catalogues. Aligning and linking project data to external reference indices will significantly improve data interoperability, discoverability, and reuse.
For inquiries, comments, and suggestions for improvement, please contact working group convenor Rune Rattenborg (rune.rattenborg@lingfil.uu.se).
Entity descriptions provided in the pages listed below maintain the same structure. First a description of the relevant data entity, followed by a section describing recommended fields to be included in a data table of the relevant data entity. We also include a section on optional fields with information on additional external identifiers that can be included. A section on resources provide basic details and links to online resources that may be consulted.
The provenience table of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative online catalogue provides a list of locations from where cuneiform inscriptions derive, with public and stable URLs for each record. Data from [CIGS] (see below) is expected to be incorporated into this index.
The collections table of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative online catalogue provides a list of collections where cuneiform inscriptions are kept, with public and stable URLs for each record. Data from [CIGC] (see below) is expected to be incorporated into this index.
The Cuneiform Inscriptions Geographical Site Index (CIGS) provides an exhaustive and thoroughly linked index of known locations where cuneiform has been found. For a description of the index, see Rattenborg et al. 2021
The Cuneiform Inscriptions Geographical Collection Index (CIGC) is scheduled to be released in 2022, and provides a thoroughly curated index of collections where cuneiform inscriptions are kept. This index has been compiled from corresponding indices of the CDLI, the BDTNS, and ARMEP, and data from GLoW
Ancient Records of Middle Eastern Policies (ARMEP) provides an excellent web map search interface for proveniences of cuneiform texts. Locations are derived from [Pleiades] (see below), where corresponding data records can be found
The Database of Neo-Sumerian Texts (BDTNS), provides a web map visualisation of in-house provenience and collection records
Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places is a leading historical geographical database for Classics, but also with an increasing number of records for the Middle East and adjoining regions. The database holds upwards of 35,000 place records.
For open access indices of archaeological locations in the Middle East, see the most recent version of the ANE Site Placemarks for Google Earth and the description of the index given in Pedersén 2012