Digital database of the early inscriptions of Egypt - final phase

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Richard Bußmann
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 427895496

• Final Report Year: 2025

Final Report Abstract

The aim of the project is to create a new basis for research into the early written records of ancient Egypt. The approximately 6,000 inscriptions date to the formative phase of the ancient Egyptian state: from the first hieroglyphically attested words at the end of prehistory to the beginning of the Old Kingdom (ca. 3300-2700 BC). They provide insight into royal forms of representation and the social profile of the emerging administrative elites. However, translating the inscriptions is still problematic, and it is therefore difficult to advance existing historical and linguistic analyses. As part of the project, the inscriptions were transliterated, translated and entered into the open access online database Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae (TLA) of the academy project “Structures and Transformations of the Vocabulary of the Egyptian Language” at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The comprehensive inclusion of metadata enables critical research into the inscriptions, including the close relationship between inscription, textual medium, and archaeological context. At the interface of philology, archaeology, and the digital humanities, it is now possible to extend the boundaries of systematic research into the ancient Egyptian language to the origins of writing in the Nile Valley and to facilitate advanced interpretation of existing and new written finds in Egypt. New methods for digital recording and processing have also been developed as part of the project. They facilitate the evaluation of the complex and particularly numerous seal inscriptions. The project thus contributes to advancing research into the transformation of social and media-historical developments in the course of the formation of the Egyptian state.

Publications

• Die frühen Inschriften Ägyptens. Eine Konkordanz der Nummerierungssysteme. Internet-Beiträge zur Ägyptologie und Sudanarchäologie 24, Berlin/London. ISBN: 9781906137755
  Sperveslage, G.
  
• Sprache – Schrift – Objekt: Herausforderungen für die Erfassung der frühdynastischen Siegelinschriften im Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae. In: Engel, E.-M., Blöbaum, A. I. und Kammerzell, F. (Hg.): Keep Out! Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom Cylinder Seals and Sealings in Context. MENES 7, Wiesbaden, 289–310. ISBN: 9783447115643
  Bussmann, R. & Sperveslage, G.
  
• VISUAL TRADITIONS AND EARLY WRITING:. Remove that Pyramid!, 127-138. Peeters Publishers.
  Bussmann, Richard
  
• Zum frühzeitlichen Königsnamen aus Grab 1702 in Tarkhan. Göttinger Miszellen 264, 19–23. ISSN: 0344-385X
  Sperveslage, G.
  
• Early Egyptian miscellanies: discussions and essays on Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt. Internet-Beiträge zur Ägyptologie und Sudanarchäologie 26. Berlin; London: Golden House. ISBN: 9781906137786
  Sperveslage, G.
  
• A Tail’s Tale: Narmer, the Catfish, and Bovine Symbolism. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 109(1-2), 65-75.
  Sperveslage, Gunnar & Heagy, Thomas C.