Digital Archaeology and Philology in the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment

Miller Prosser (University of Chicago)
Andrew Wright (University of Chicago)

Friday, 6 October 2023 | 5:00–5:30 pm

Abstract

After nearly two decades of rigorous use, the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment (OCHRE), developed at the University of Chicago, has proven to be a robust, innovative database solution for archaeology and philology. From data capture, to sharing, analysis, publication, and archiving, OCHRE addresses the entire data life cycle. As a schema- agnostic semistructured XML graph database, OCHRE is designed intentionally to accommodate the implementation of multiple metadata standards and is configured to interface with the Semantic Web and Linked Open Data.

In practice, OCHRE is used by numerous archaeological projects all over the globe, from ongoing projects like Tell Keisan in Israel (University of Chicago and Ben-Gurion University), The Chicago-Tübingen Archaeological Project in Sam’al (Zincirli, co-sponsored by the University of Chicago and Tübingen University) and the Amache Research Project in Colorado (University of Denver) to legacy projects curating data from Antioch in Turkey, Tiwanaku in Bolivia, and Idalion in Cyprus. Excavation and survey projects use OCHRE into the field, capturing data at the moment it is discovered. OCHRE allows archaeologists to record multiple observations on excavation units and small finds using a customizable metadata taxonomy. Chronology and phasing can also be established and used to generate Harris Matrices in conjunction with metadata properties describing the sequential depositional layers. Additionally, OCHRE facilitates the organization and linking of images, documents, and geospatial data, putting all relevant records at the researcher’s fingertips.

Because OCHRE was developed in the context of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (formerly the Oriental Institute) of the University of Chicago, it has also been used extensively for textual studies—from the rich Elamite and Aramaic corpus of the Persepolis Fortification archive and now to the production of critical editions of the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin manuscripts of the Bible, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, and various manuscripts of Herman Melville (the CEDAR project). OCHRE represents texts as highly granular epigraphic and discourse observations, from which a text editor can build multiple critical or diplomatic editions, perform computer assisted analysis, or undertake traditional philological pursuits such as lexicography.

Online Ressources

• Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment (OCHRE): https://ochre.uchicago.edu/
• Tell Keisan: https://keisan.uchicago.edu/
• Tiwanaku: https://ochre.lib.uchicago.edu/PWJ/
• Antioch: https://ochre.lib.uchicago.edu/antioch/
• Idalion: https://ochre.lib.uchicago.edu/LCEIC/
• Critical Editions for Digital Analysis and Research (CEDAR): https://cedar.uchicago.edu/
• The Persepolis Fortification Archives Project: https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/projects/persepolis-fortification-archive/
• Digital Studies: https://digitalstudies.uchicago.edu/
• Forum for Digital Culture: https://digitalculture.uchicago.edu/
• UChicago Online Publication Service: https://onlinepublications.uchicago.edu/

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