Texts, Tells and Semantics: Modelling the Historical Geography of Upper Mesopotamia in the 2nd mill. BC by an integrated analysis of cuneiform texts, archaeological data and space using geo-informatics and the semantic web

TEXTELSEM项目是三个学科的联合倡议：古代近东考古学、亚述学和计算机科学。它的目标是(1)开发一个整合古代近东考古、地质考古和文本资源的空间数据的平台，从而(2)为历史地理学研究提供新的方法和可视化工具。楔形文字资源提供了一个关于地名、景观、路线和大道的“厚网”，无论是显性的还是隐性的。考古数据提供了关于聚落结构、洞穴、自然地理和环境条件的信息。面对这些数据日益增长的数量和复杂性，使用基于it的格式进行知识管理是未来研究的必要条件。TEXTELSEM旨在通过创建用于描述语义数据管理的综合概念来连接这些不同类型的数据。该项目将开发跨学科共享本体，以便明确地描述其每个成员学科中生成的数据。TEXTELSEM将利用跨学科项目HIGEOMES中探索的原型，同时详细阐述和扩大其应用领域和其中包含的历史数据。从地理历史的角度来看，TEXTELSEM不仅包括上美索不达米亚，还包括底格里斯河以东的土地，这一地区见证了古代近东历史上最重要的定居点群。随着最近伊拉克库尔德斯坦考古实地工作的加强，我们有一个独特的机会将实际的地质考古数据与文本来源联系起来，并为公元前2000年的历史提供新的想法和观点。该项目的时间框架反映了这样一个事实，即来自古巴比伦和中亚述档案的楔形文字来源提供了对上美索不达米亚的详细且同时互补的视角。我们的法德合作的特点是在许多不同领域的互补能力，将高度专业化的历史调查领域的基础研究与新的分析方法和可视化技术的鼓舞人心的发展相结合。其核心特征是一个集成了专家数据的企业知识库系统，不仅可以查询和传播，还可以检索半自动处理的知识，这些知识反过来又鼓励新的假设的形成。知识发现技术还可以帮助回答诸如“在XY地区某处”之类的模糊问题，并能够根据可用信息处理假定的地点定位。在这个项目背景下开发的技术（数据模型和可视化概念）可以应用到其他时期和地理区域。

The project TEXTELSEM is a joint iniative of three disciplines: Ancient Near Eastern Archeology, Assyriology and Computer Science. It aims to (1) develop a platform that integrates spatial data from the archeological, geoarcheological and textual sources of the Ancient Near East and thus (2) to provide new methods and visualization tools for research in historical geography.The cuneiform sources provide a 'thick net' of information regarding toponyms, landscapes, routes, and thoroughfares, both explicit and implicit. The archeological data yield information on settlement structures, and holloways, physical geography and environmental conditions. In the face of the ever increasing quantity and complexity of these data, the use of IT-based formats for knowledge management are a conditio sine qua non for future research. TEXTELSEM aims at connecting these different types of data through the creation of integrative concepts for the description of semantic data management. The project will develop transdisciplinary shared ontologies so as to umambigously describe the data generated within each of its member disciplines. TEXTELSEM will make use of the prototypes explored within the interdisciplinary project HIGEOMES, while at the same time elaborating and broadening both their field of application and the historical data included within them. From a geo-historical perspective, TEXTELSEM will encompass not only Upper Mesopotamia but also the lands East of the Tigris, a region that has witnessesed settlement cluster of the utmost importance within the history of the Ancient Near East. With the recent intensification of archeological field work in Iraqi Kurdistan, we have a unique opportunity to link actual geoarcheological data with the textual sources and provide new ideas and perspectives on the history of the 2nd millennium BCE. The chronological frame of the project reflects the fact that cuneiform sources from the Old Babylonian and Middle Assyrian Archives provide a detailed and at the same time complementary perspective on Upper Mesopotamia.Our French-German cooperation is characterised by complementary competences in a number of different fields, combining fundamental research in highly specialized areas of historical investigation with inspiring developments in new analytical methods and visualization techniques. The core feature is a coorporate knowledgebase system that integrates the expert data so as to allow not only for querying and disseminating, but also the retrieval of semi-automatically processed knowledge, knowledge that in turn encourages the formulation of new hypotheses.Techniques of knowledge discovery can also help to answer vague questions like "somewhere in region XY" and are able to process assumed localisation of places based on the available information. The technologies developed in the context of this project (datamodels and visualization concepts) can then be applied to other periods and geographical regions.