Periodic Reporting for period 5 - ELEPHANTINE (Localizing 4000 Years of Cultural History. Texts and Scripts from Elephantine Island in Egypt)
Período documentado: 2022-01-01 hasta 2022-06-30
Thus, access was gained to these texts, making them publicly available in an open access online database. Links could be identified between papyrus fragments from different collections and an international ‘papyrus puzzle’ undertaken, incorporating cutting-edge methods from digital humanities, physics and mathematics (e.g. for the virtual unfolding of papyri). For the first time in the history of papyrology papyrus packages can now be read virtually, without physically opening them. Using this database with medical, religious, legal, administrative, even literary texts, the micro-history of the everyday life of the local and global (i.e. ‘glocal’) community of Elephantine can be studied within its socio-cultural setting in Egypt and beyond. It can be linked back to macro-historical questions - including multiculturalism, the role of females and the development of religions (Polytheism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam) - and benefit from newly-introduced methodologies of global history: Elephantine can thus be used as a case study and a model for the past, present and future.
The languages and scripts include: Hieroglyphs, Hieratic, Demotic, Coptic, Carian, Meroitic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, Latin and Arabic.
A long lasting open access database filled with 10.700 objects has been published on the server of the HI. In total, more than 20 publications, 5 expeditions were conducted, 20 awards and recognitions received, and more than 240 outputs were given (see dissemination).
When reconstructing the cultural history of Elephantine we focus on some key questions (females in society, religions, multiculturalism). As a lot of foreigners lived on Elephantine island, the aspect of migration in Ancient Egypt was tackled. The project is based in Germany, where migration is currently a central issue, and thus interesting dimensions opened for the project: The impact was reflected by the national and international media.
The PI and the team members gave more than 130 papers and lectures about the ERC-project. In Egypt, the work was presented at the International Congress of Egyptologists in Cairo where the project had its own panel and the PI and three team members presented their work. Lectures were given in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Argonne, Athens, Bari, Basel, Berlin, Bonn, Boston, Bruxelles, Cairo, Cambridge, Castelldefels, Chicago, Cologne, Florence, Frauenwörth, Frejus, Granada; Grenoble, Göttingen, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Harvard, Khartoum, Kuala Lumpur, Lecce, Leipzig, London, Magdeburg, Maine, Mainz, Munich, Namibia, New York, New Hampshire, Paris, Piaski, Pisa, Portsmouth, Princeton, Rom, Sacley, San Antonio, Sommerset West, Strasbourg, UNESCO, Utrecht, Venice, Vienna, Warsaw, Washington D.C. etc.
Media Reaction about the PI and the ERC-Project:
More than 25 media reports were made by: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Die Zeit, Tagesspiegel, TAZ, Die Welt, Aachener Nachrichten, Spektrum der Wissenschaften, Archaeologie-Online, SMB Blog, SPK-Magazin, Berliner Antike Kolleg, Europäische Union, European Research Council Magazin, Newsweek, Prada TV, rbb, ARD etc.