Wares, Types and Fabrics. The Upper Egypt Contribution to LCP

In archaeology it is common for excavations to generate a large number of finds that then have to be scientifically studied. This is particularly the case for excavations taking place in the Mediterranean, such as Syene and Elephantine in Upper Egypt, where a total of 321,221 pottery fragments were discovered as part of an FWF-project (P23866-G18). Of this large number of fragments around 16,000 were categorized as diagnostic, i.e. identifiable in greater detail. The time period covers almost all of antiquity from the 6th century BC to the 8th century AD when the southern border town of the Roman Empire was conquered by Arabs. Syene also is considered to be one of the most important production centers of vessels and pottery which were traded in the entire Mediterranean. It is astonishing, therefore, that this material has never been more fully published. This large quantity of finds cannot be published in its entirety in a traditional manner, because it would only be possible to present a selective and interpretative cross-section of the material. This would result in a selective and interpretative cross section would automatically result in a considerable loss of information and would make it impossible to reuse the raw data. Additionally, printed publications are only accessible to a small group of readers because the publications are only available in select libraries. Particularly for the scientific community in the regions of North Africa and the Levante the only option of including them in the scientific discourse is to make information freely available online. A way out of this dilemma is made possible through the integration of research data with the Levantine Ceramics Project (LCP) Website (www.levantineceramics.org). This is an international initiative, established at Boston University, and has the function of a long-term data repository as well as of an innovative research tool for pottery data of the Eastern Mediterranean. In order to attain this goal the full release of the data including the information generated through the research project several work steps are necessary: the various raw datasets must be collated and reviewed to ensure an optimization of the data quality. Based on this optimization it is necessary to standardize the terminology and descriptors in order to guarantee comparability. A particular focus will be placed on the correct translation of the German terms and descriptions into English to ensure the standardization and comparability of the data. Likewise the image files will be harmonized and optimized before the text and images will be uploaded to the LCP database. And finally, together with the cooperation partner in Boston the database will be upgraded through three initiatives, including an interactive web-map of Egypt.

The results of the FWF-Project (P23866-G18), in particular the analyses of Hellenistic, Roman and Late Antique pottery, are of great importance for the specialist community working in Egypt and beyond. Due to the incredible quantity of finds (approximately 16,000 diagnostic pieces), it was impossible to publish the pottery in the traditional manner. In addition, printed publications are reserved only for a small circle of readers who have access to relevant libraries. Especially for the scientific community in regions such as North Africa and the Levant, freely accessible online solutions are the only way to participate in scientific discourse. Therefore, we decided to make these data accessible via Open Access, for which we chose in 2016 the database of the Levantine Ceramics Project (LCP), a platform initiated by international ceramics specialists and realized by Andrea M Berlin at Boston University USA. There is no special information or software needed for the use of this dataset of Syene and Elephantine. The data can be viewed by everyone at any time and can therefore be used by colleagues and students who have no access to libraries. A major challenge in data preparation were the many different file formats (docx, pdf, xlsx, mdb, ai, jpg, tiff) as well as a high quality translation of the German documentation into English, as the LCP is an English-only platform. It also turned out that linking to the complete data set of Syene/Elephantine by DOI or another persistent identifier is not given, thus other web search engines cannot find our data. Therefore, midway through the project, we decided to upload only the most relevant, diagnostic pieces with all associated information and accompanying photos and drawings. Throughout the project, we were deeply concerned with issues of usability, which encompassed both the accessibility of our information as well as its reusability. In addition, the digital landscape, especially the digital infrastructure, changed massively in the 18 months between the submission of the application and the approval of the ORD project. In 2017, a digital repository of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) went online, offering the possibility to store all raw data in original language. Through ARCHE, the entire data set from Syene/Elephantine can be published in an open and accessible format that also ensures long-term archiving. Preparing the data for uploading to ARCHE was quite straightforward. The data are now all adapted according to ARCHE guidelines and thus FAIR principles. The people and institutions involved in the project are linked with persistent identifiers such as VIAF, ORCID and Wikidata. For locations Pleiades was used and for time Periodo. The pottery data of Syene and Elephantine is the first archaeological dataset in Austria that has been made completely freely accessible