Ricerc@Sapienza

The archives of the long-lasting excavations and research at Ebla provide for a great dataset of documents and materials, already largely digitized, which constitute a database for testing the proposed research: in particular, the previous archaeological knowledge of the sites, territories and material culture will be an essential prerogative for the correct interpretation and integration of Remote Sensing data and the virtual rendering of the artefacts. The digitized materials will then enter into the scientific and educational BA and MA programmes, with open access platforms that can be shared by both specialists and general public (citizen science). The 3D rendering of both contexts (virtual landscapes) and contents (material culture) will become an opportunity to experiment new forms of integration (according to the principles of cognitive archaeology) and interaction with students (virtual excavation and workshops from the distance).
Surveys developing solutions and techniques of the Remote Sensing and 3D modelling of the territory can become useful and fundamental tools for monitoring sites in areas affected by crises and wars.
The preservation and digitalisation of the archives of Ebla point to guarantee a quick system of reference that precisely associates each document to a unique item, a cataloguing via a QR Code system will be purposely registered and used. In this way, from any device, it will be possible to have access to the information: this will definitely be particularly important to help the Syrian archaeologists and specialists from the remote (a situation caused not only by the difficulty of the war but also by the current severe health condition) in reconstructing the archives of the objects that were originally in the museum; at the same time, the same information can be shared with law enforcement and judicial authorities that are charged with the investigation about stolen and missing artefacts. The fiche of the QR Code will include the essential information, in both English and Arabic: pictures, brief description, measurements and identification numbers (excavation number and museum number).
The development of a suitable algorithm for the study of the content of the Ebla texts will found a new line of research in the field of cuneiform studies for what concerns the questions of chronology, issue of recurring names (prosopography), the reconstruction of the ancient geography and the analysis of the organization and development of ancient economic systems of a urban centre of the 3rd millennium BC.
These processes are carried out after excavation (ex post processing) which instead follows the traditional methods of archaeological research. The virtual rendering of spaces (territory, landscape and urban and architectural contexts) and the vectorization of documents and artefacts allow analysts to propose reconstructive hypotheses and therefore historical interpretations of the settlements and the nature of morphology and occupation of a territory or site. These new methods are even more effective in those regions where it is not possible, due to extreme geo-climatic events, ongoing wars and inaccessibility of places, to conduct excavations and field surveys.
The project essentially aims at the preservation and valorisation of the archives of Ebla: certainly, the complete dialogic database will be used for further archaeological research, but this step is, at the moment, postponed. Principally, the project aims at facing the urgency of the safeguard of the Syrian archaeological heritage, with a focus on the Museum of Idlib: to this respect, the project is high-gain as it presents a shared system of cataloguing that can afterwards be applied to other contexts, in re-creating the archive documents of the Syrian museums that might be no longer available.