Oriental Museum Research Articles

A deep learning approach to fight illicit trafficking of antiquities using artefact instance classification

We approach the task of detecting the illicit movement of cultural heritage from a machine learning perspective by presenting a framework for detecting a known artefact in a new and unseen image. To this end, we explore the machine learning problem of instance classification for large archaeological images datasets, i.e. where each individual object (instance) is itself a class that all of the multiple images of that object belongs. We focus on a wide variety of objects in the Durham Oriental Museum with which we build a dataset with over 24,502 images of 4332 unique object instances. We experiment with state-of-the-art convolutional neural network models, the smaller variations of which are suitable for deployment on mobile applications. We find the exact object instance of a given image can be predicted from among 4332 others with ~ 72% accuracy, showing how effectively machine learning can detect a known object from a new image. We demonstrate that accuracy significantly improves as the number of images-per-object instance increases (up to ~ 83%), with an ensemble of classifiers scoring as high as 84%. We find that the correct instance is found in the top 3, 5, or 10 predictions of our best models ~ 91%, ~ 93%, or ~ 95% of the time respectively. Our findings contribute to the emerging overlap of machine learning and cultural heritage, and highlights the potential available to future applications and research.

Frammenti di Cina

Publisher: UniorPress Series: Quaderni delle Collezioni Museali de “L’Orientale” Pages: 166 Language: Italiano NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/resolver.pl?nbn=urn:nbn:it:unina-27448 Abstract: The volume “Fragments of China” is dedicated to the Chinese section of the ‘Umberto Scerrato’ Oriental Museum of the University of Naples “L’Orientale”. It includes essays by various scholars who examine and explore topics related to the objects on display in the museum, from porcelain (Caterina) to sculpture (Visconti), from funerary art (Montella) to painting (Macri) and calligraphy (Amitrano). The Chinese section is enriched by a unique specimen, a large map of China made by Matteo Ripa and kept at the Orientale since the foundation of the Collegio dei Cinesi (Muzzupappa).

Alexander Sedov: “We Tell People about Their Culture”

An interview with Alexander V. Sedov, the Director-General of The State Museum of Oriental Art devoted to the launch of the new master’s program of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the State Academic University for the Humanities (GAUGN) and the Department of Oriental History of the Institute of Oriental Studies Russian Academy of Sciences “Socio-Cultural Development of East Asian Countries”, which is headed by Alexander Sedov as an academic curator (Dinara V. Dubrovskaya, the head of the Department of Oriental History of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, is the supervisor of the program). The interview focused on the attractiveness of the Eastern art and culture and their broadcasting to a wider audience through the exhibitions of the Oriental museum, reaching the level of discussion of the problems of preserving cultural heritage, questions of the feasibility and relevance of museumification of archaeological sites such as Palmyra in Syria, monuments in Oman and Yemen.

Decolonising Museums: South-Asian Perspectives

AbstractThis study adopts an osmotic ethnography in order to decolonise the museum as an intellectual institution that was born in the West and informed by a logic of command (arkheion). As in the biological process of osmosis, characterised by an equilibrium between the inner and the outer that shapes its own distinctiveness through its symbiosis, the museum constitutes itself as a space intertwined with external reality. This is particularly true in the case of South Asian museum artefacts: because of the concept ofdarśan(the sensuous relationship between the worshipper and the deity's material embodiment) curators have faced the challenge of coming to terms with visitors’ responses, from colonial to post-colonial times. A direct consequence of this challenge is represented by the reconstructions of religious spaces—shrines, altars, temples—that should evoke the so-called “original context” and be in consonance with local forms of material engagement.By adopting eco-phenomenology as its methodological framework, this article examines colonial sources, in particular the works of Thomas Hendley (1847–1917) and Fanny Parks (1794–1875), and compares them to the ethnographic fieldwork undertaken by the author at the Oriental Museum of the University of Durham in November 2014, as part of doctoral research.

Two pieces of linen with a latin inscription from the Biblical and Oriental Museum of Leon

The present article is a study of two linen fabrics that have an inscription in cursive Latin of very high interest. Both tissues are preserved in the Biblical and Oriental Museum of Leon and have an uncertain origin. The two pieces, which are decontextualized, have the same measure, 17 cm wide and 34 cm high. The text is Christian but has certain gaps. It is a repeated invocation to Jesus, who presents Him as the Beginning and the End of all, and qualifies Him repeatedly as Holy. These attributes are proper to God (Apocalypse 1,4; 1,8; 4,8), and being assigned to Jesus, seem to deny the human nature of Christ, which makes us think of a text of heretical character with a clear relationship with Monarchianism or Sabellianism (II-III centuries AD). Sabellianism spread through Libya and Egypt from the third century onwards, which can approximate the text dating between the third and fifth centuries. A technical analysis of both the linen and the ink in which papyrus remains have been found entangled, was performed, indicating that it comes from a workshop in which linen or papyrus was made indistinctly, something that was common in the workshops of Egyptian craftsmen. A textual analysis was also performed enhancing the links with some passages of Apocalypse.

The implementation of object-centred learning through the visual arts: Engaging students in creative, problem-based learning

Abstract Many museums now allow more opportunities for students to interact with their artefacts, often in store. At the same time, digital technologies now make it easier for those students to access information about those artefacts, interpret it, and construct and communicate their story in imaginative ways. The potential for learning about and through is evident. This article describes how this potential was realized in a collaboration between an Oriental museum and undergraduates studying a visual arts module at the University of Durham, UK. It describes some guiding educational principles, the students’ interaction with art objects, their research process and logs, and the presentation of their understandings in podcasts. Their responses achieved the aims of high levels of motivation, the construction of understandings (and their limits), imaginative communication, heightened information technology skills, and personal satisfaction. That this approach could be usefully applied elsewhere is indicated, along with some limitations.

The archaeological potential of Durham University's Sudan Archive

Durham University's Sudan Archive was founded in 1957 by former members of the Sudan Government under the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, and by staff from Durham University, including the first director of the Oriental Museum, T.W. Thacker (Cory & Forbes 1983). Since the initial call for donations, the Sudan Archive has now collected 800 boxes of documents and photographs, mainly from former Sudan Government officials. This material now forms an integral part of Durham University Library's special collections (Sudan Archive Catalogue). The archive holds a wide variety of documents, from personal communications and photographs, to official reports mainly pertaining to political and social issues from early twentieth-century Sudan and neighbouring countries. It also includes a wealth of material relevant to the archaeology of both the Sudan and neighbouring countries (e.g. Egypt, Israel, Syria) (Figure 1), yet only a limited amount of the potentially relevant material has been used by archaeologists. The Sudan Archive remains a largely untapped resource for archaeological research. This situation is probably to be explained partly by the description of the archive as a historical and political collection; moreover, a search of the existing catalogue for the term ‘archaeology’ returns only four results, whereas about 700 documents are directly relevant to the subject. An additional problem is that the spellings of both archaeological sites and locations are inconsistent; for example, Meroë also appears asMeroe, MeroweandBakarwiyyeh. To remedy these issues and to make the material more accessible, a recent project has identified over 1000 individual references to archaeological sites or themes and catalogued them in a database (Figure 2).

Digital Co-Curation in a Youth-Led Exhibition: A Case Study at Durham University Oriental Museum

At Durham University Oriental Museum, the temporary exhibition ‘Made in China: Exports and Experiences’ launched earlier this year, coinciding directly with the arrival of the Olympic Torch to the city. From the earliest planning stages in September 2011, to its opening on 16th June, it was an unconventional exhibition. Curated by a group of approximately twenty students between the ages of 16 and 25, this exhibition combined artefacts, archives, archaeological material, and oral histories to tell its story. With the unusual combination of objects, this exhibition was in the unique position of being able to experiment with new and exciting modes of curation. When dealing with the challenges involved with curating different media, it is essential that innovative and coherent solutions can be found to problems such as display and public accessibility. From the start of the design process, the use of digital curation was always a topic of discussion when tackling the issues that arose from trying to display dissimilar collections in a single space. It was equally essential that particular methods of digital curation did not overcomplicate an already multi-layered exhibition. While it was vital that elements of digital curation were integrated into the ‘Made in China’ project, it was just as important that the digital aspect did not overwhelm the physical experience of the exhibition.

A Funerary Mask in Durham and Mummy Adornment in the Late Second Intermediate Period and Early Eighteenth Dynasty

The publication of a mummy mask of the early Eighteenth Dynasty in the Oriental Museum, University of Durham. It is discussed in relation to several other masks datable to the period from the Seventeenth Dynasty through to the earlier years of the New Kingdom.

Historische Probleme Der 3. Zwischenzeit

Republication of a statue of Bes in the Oriental Museum, Durham, showing that interpretations based on earlier copies are untenable. The statue was dedicated by a High Priest Shoshenq, but his son Harsiese was only an ordinary prophet of Amun. Starting from the chronology of Aston, JEA 75, the author distinguishes the king, Harsiese A, from a High Priest, Harsiese B, who held office under Osorkon II. The slightly earlier High Priest Takeloth F is identified with the later king Takeloth II. It is further suggested that the ‘Theban Twenty-third Dynasty’ consists of two rival lines, each with its own High Priest: 1) Takeloth II and Iuput I, with High Priest Osorkon B (perhaps resident at Herakleopolis), and 2) Pedubast I and Shoshenq IV, with High Priests Harsiese B followed by Takeloth E (perhaps resident at Hermopolis). Since Pedubast is also attested in Lower Egypt, he probably had allies there. Finally, the High Priest Shoshenq of the Bes statue is identified with the king Shoshenq who renewed the statue Cairo CG 42192 for Psusennes II.

A new gallery for the Oriental Museum, University of Durham

Twenty-five years ago the University of Durham moved its collection of oriental art into a purpose-built museum. In this new setting the antiquities and works of art could be appreciated for their true worth as one of the major oriental collections in the United Kingdom, and a fresh point was added to the itinerary of those art-lovers daring to venture north of Watford. Such has been their interest and the growth of the collections that additional space is now urgently necessary to present the objects to their best advantage and to provide visitors with the facilities that the museum-going public have rightly come to expect. The history of the Museum begins in the late 1940s when academics returned from their wartime postings and Professor T. W. Thacker began to develop the teaching of oriental subjects. Although his prime interest was Semitic philology, he was fully aware of the importance of the cultural background in a proper study of any language, and when it became evident that the Duke of Northumberland was contemplating the sale of the collection of Egyptian antiquities formed by the Fourth Duke, he acted quickly to acquire it for the University. The Duke was keen to see the collection stay as near as possible to the family seat at Alnwick and stoutly resisted both the ploys of the British Museum and the proffered dollars of the Brooklyn Museum. After the usual eleventh-hour crisis Professor Thacker was able to raise the necessary funds and the pieces were moved to temporary accommodation in Hatfield College in Durham. During the next few years events moved quickly: the Scarbrough Commission recommended Durham as one of the universities where oriental studies should be encouraged, and the School of Oriental Studies was set up with Thacker as its first Director, offering courses in subjects ranging from Ancient Egyptian to modern Chinese. The School was installed in Elvet Hill House, an 1840s house built by the architect Ignatius Bonomi for his own use in what was known, prophetically perhaps, as Rising Sun Field on the southern outskirts of Durham. Even in this new home there was insufficient room for the rapidly growing collections. Several small additions had been made by this stage, mostly of Egyptian and Near Eastern items, but in 1956 the Rt Hon. Malcolm MacDonald offered on permanent loan his important collection of Chinese ceramics. With its arrival the problem of space became critical and plans were made for the construction of a purpose-built museum. A firm of architects from Middlesbrough was appointed by the University and briefed by Professor Thacker, advised by Mr H. N. Spalding whose generous financial contributions had helped the School in many ways-not least in the initial purchase of the Duke of Northumberland’s collection. The capital cost of the building was met by a donation from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and it was formally opened in May 1960. The building lies on a slope in front of Elvet Hill House. It is only some 8 metres from the house and completely obstructs its view. It had been intended at this stage to replace the house with a tower block, so

A new gallery for the oriental museum, university of Durham

A new gallery for the oriental museum, university of Durham

Fragments of an Embalming-ritual Papyrus in the Oriental Museum, Durham

Fragments of an Embalming-ritual Papyrus in the Oriental Museum, Durham

Donald E. McCown and Richard Haines, assisted by Donald P. Hansen Nippur I. Temple of Enlil, Scribal Quarter, and Soundings. The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications Vol. LXXVIII, 1967. Excavations of the Joint Expendition to Nippur of the Museum of Philadelphia and the Oriental Museum of the University of Chicago. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1967. 201 pp.,

Donald E. McCown and Richard Haines, assisted by Donald P. Hansen Nippur I. Temple of Enlil, Scribal Quarter, and Soundings. The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications Vol. LXXVIII, 1967. Excavations of the Joint Expendition to Nippur of the Museum of Philadelphia and the Oriental Museum of the University of Chicago. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1967. 201 pp.,

Historical and Lexical Notes on the New Series of Hammamat Inscriptions

tensive use of the eastern desert region for quarrying and mining operations is now well established for the dynastic period, and only recently announcement has been made of a previously unknown series of Old Kingdom texts in a wadi tributary to the Wadi Mueilha.2 Our information concerning the Red Sea ports before the Ptolemaic period remains negligible. A stela of the reign of Amenemhet II records the name of the port of return as S:ww. Since the stela derives from a temple in the Wadi el Gasus the port is not likely to have been far from here (stela Alnwick Castle No. 1934, now in the Oriental Museum of Durham University). In view of the difficulties in coastal navigation on the Red Sea, a longer land route to the south may have been more extensively used, especially for the outbound trip to the coast. On the road starting from Edfu a graffito of a king of Dynasty I is known, and the temple of Sethy I at Wadi cAbbad on this route is the largest such construction in the eastern desert between the Nile and the Red Sea. It is a curious circumstance that the only dated texts of Dynasty XVIII in the Hammamat belong to the reigns of Tuthmosis III and Amenhotpe IV; this suggests that the Hammamat and its quarries were not in their I This article is a review of Georges Goyon, Nouvelles inscriptions rupestres du Wadi Hammamat, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1957. Pp. xi +189; 52 pls. The texts previously known from this region are cited by number and line, according to general usage, as Hamm. 1, 3-4, etc., the numbering being that of the Couyat-Montet edition of 1912: J. Couyat and P. Montet, Les inscriptions higroglyphiques et higratiques du Ouddi Hammdmdt (=-Mgmoires publigs par les membres de l'Institut franCaise d'archgologie orientale du Caire, Vol. 34), Cairo, 1912. Texts not included in this edition are cited according to their source. The new texts are cited by number and line as Goyon. The abbreviations used require no explanation, with the possible exception of el Hudi for the texts made available by A. Fakhry in The Inscriptions of the Amethyst Quarries at Wadi el Hudi, Cairo, 1952. For obvious reasons it has been found expedient to use the spellings Hammamat, Amenemhet, and Mentuhotpe for the

An Incantation against Diseases

(A) University of Illinois (Urbana, Ill.) Oriental Museum No. 1059. Measurements were not taken. The text was copied by me a number of years ago and is here published with the permission of its owners, to whom public thanks are due for their generous cooperation. (B) Hartford Theological Seminary (Hartford, Conn.) No. 2. 62 x 128 mm. The text was copied by Dr. V. E. Crawford and his copy is included

The Museums Report and National Folk Museums

IN the concluding paragraphs of Part 1 of the Final Report of the Royal Commission on National Museums and Colleetions,1 some outstanding needs in the national museum service are indicated. In the order named there are: an ethnographical museum, a folk museum, an Oriental museum, and a museum of casts. This sequence is not without its significance.

The Iconography of Certain Egyptian Divinities as Illustrated by the Collections in Haskell Oriental Museum

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Iconography of Certain Egyptian Divinities as Illustrated by the Collections in Haskell Oriental MuseumHarry W. CartwrightHarry W. Cartwright Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 45, Number 3Apr., 1929 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/370228 Views: 16Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (1895-1941), which is continued by the Journal of Near Eastern Studies (1942-present). PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Collection of Western Asiatic Seals in the Haskell Oriental Museum

The Collection of Western Asiatic Seals in the Haskell Oriental Museum

XXVIII Hittite Vocabularies from Boghaz Keui

A paper of prime importance for Hittite studies has been read by Professor Fr. Delitzsch before the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences at Berlin. The Oriental Museum at Berlin has obtained a collection of cuneiform tablets from Boghaz Keui, among which are twenty-six fragments of vocabularies, copies of which will appear in the first part of the volume of Boghaz Keui inscriptions which Dr. Weidner is engaged in publishing. The vocabularies contain lists of Sumerian words with their pronunciation as well as their equivalents in Assyrian (or, as Professor Delitzsch calls it, Accadian) and Hittite. The Sumerologist will be grateful for the authoritative information they at last give as to the pronunciation of the Sumerian ideographs; the “Hittitologist” will be still more grateful for the first insight they afford into the character of the Hittite language spoken at Boghaz Keui. In Professor Delitzsch's paper the words are given in transcription. The paper will doubtless be the subject of much philological commentary. Meanwhile I offer a few notes upon it.