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Sven Gronemeyer
  • Department of Archaeology & History
    School of Humanities and Social Sciences
    La Trobe University | Bundoora 3086 | Australia

Sven Gronemeyer

  • Studied Anthropology of the Americas, Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, and Egyptology at the University of ... moreedit
"This publication is intended as the first attempt to compile a corpus as comprehensive as possible of the Maya site of Tamarindito, Petén, Guatemala. It will consider all monuments that were previously designated, whether these monuments... more
"This publication is intended as the first attempt to compile a corpus as comprehensive as possible of the Maya site of Tamarindito, Petén, Guatemala. It will consider all monuments that were previously designated, whether these monuments bear hieroglyphic texts and/or iconography or no carving at all. It also documents miscellaneous objects such as ceramic artefacts or graffiti.
Tamarindito is a heavily looted site. While some of its monuments or fragments remain in situ, others have been rescued during archaeological operations or for safekeeping measures under the authority of the Instituto de Arqueología e Historia (IDAEH) of Guatemala. Tragically, a great portion of the monuments of Tamarindito have disappeared into private collections, where some pieces have been rediscovered. Others remain lost.
Another problem has been the fragmentary and inconsistent documentation of the corpus, to which I will refer later in this publication. I have therefore attempted to gather all available information on the inscriptions and consolidate them in this corpus. I am aware that not all is reconstructable from the different sources, and certain information may still be lacking.
Nevertheless, this publication is able to provide both photographic and graphic documentation for a majority of the known monuments and inscriptions from Tamarindito. The idea of compiling a record grew during my first stay in the ruins during the second field season of the Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito conducted by Vanderbilt University, Nashville, under the directorship of Markus Eberl in 2010. A preliminary report has been previously published by me. It focused mainly on those monuments that still remained in the archaeological zone. With this publication I would like to fill in existing gaps and present all materials that are available from fieldwork and archival research. This does not mean that further research and field work will not alter the information presented herein. On the contrary, further excavations are expected to shed more light on certain monuments that are just reported from more or less in situ descriptions.
Previous studies on adjacent sites, such as Dos Pilas or Arroyo de Piedra, have already shown that Tamarindito played a major role in the Classic Maya political landscape of the region. The documentation of the corpus has further revealed the major importance of the site. It is hoped that this present contribution will add an important component of the epigraphy of the Petexbatun region and beyond, and facilitate more research."
Tamarindito is the oldest Petexbatun kingdom with an emblem glyph that eventually became a regional toponym still used in the Late Classic. The ousting of Dos Pilas ruler K’inich Chan K’awil in A.D. 761 initiated a balkanization of the... more
Tamarindito is the oldest Petexbatun kingdom with an emblem glyph that eventually became a regional toponym still used in the Late Classic. The ousting of Dos Pilas ruler K’inich Chan K’awil in A.D. 761 initiated a balkanization of the Petexbatun region with devastating wars between regional centres. It destabilised the political landscape and gave rise to competing ‘petty kingdoms’. Tamarindito’s kings vanished at the end of the eighth century A.D. Based on our recent epigraphic and archaeological investigations, we pursue two questions: (1) how did Tamarindito’s elite contribute to the downfall of Dos Pilas and eventually disappear? and (2) how did Tamarindito’s non-elites fare during the balkanization of the Petexbatun region?
The consequences of mutual attacks left Dos Pilas in ruins. Royal architecture was torn down hastily to erect defensive systems. Tamarindito remained largely unaffected, with only few fortifications in its twin capital Arroyo de Piedra and its last attested king still properly buried. The Petexbatun wars allow us to examine strategies for the continuation of dynastic power and especially how it was exercised during the volatile balkanization period. Even though the central authority did not survive for long, the socio-economic effects on non-elites were more limited. Our excavations reveal continued settlement activity in Tamarindito’s perinuclear and peripheral zones. A Late Classic workshop where prestigious goods were crafted suggests a power shift towards non-elites.
The project ‘Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan’ aims at creating a machine-readable corpus of all Maya texts and compiling a dictionary on this basis. The characteristics of this complex writing system pose particular... more
The project ‘Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan’ aims at creating a machine-readable corpus of all Maya texts and compiling a dictionary on this basis. The characteristics of this complex writing system pose particular challenges to research, resulting in contradictory and ambiguous deciphering hypotheses. In this paper, we present a system for the qualitative evaluation of reading proposals that is
integrated into a digital Sign Catalogue for Mayan hieroglyphs, establishing a novel concept for sign systematisation and classification. The paper focuses in particular on the modelling process and thus emphasises the role of knowledge representation in digital humanities research.
The Maya hieroglyphic script (300 BCE–1500 CE), which has only been partially deciphered, is one of the most significant writing traditions of the ancient world. In 2014, the project Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan was... more
The Maya hieroglyphic script (300 BCE–1500 CE), which has only been partially deciphered, is one of the most significant writing traditions of the ancient world. In 2014, the project Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan was established at the University of Bonn by the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Arts and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities, to research the written language of the pre-Columbian Maya. The project aims to use digital methods and technologies to compile the epigraphic contents and object histories of all known hieroglyphic texts. Based on these data, a dictionary of the Classic Mayan language will be compiled and published near the end of the project’s runtime in 2028. The project is methodologically situated in the digital humanities and conducted in cooperation with the Göttingen State and University Library (Grube & Prager, 2016).
Im Projekt "Textdatenbank und Wörterbuch des Klassischen Maya" stellt der Zeichen-katalog eine der wichtigsten Komponenten zur Erstellung des digitalen Textkorpus und dessen lin-guistischer Analyse dar. Für die noch nicht vollständig... more
Im Projekt "Textdatenbank und Wörterbuch des Klassischen Maya" stellt der Zeichen-katalog eine der wichtigsten Komponenten zur Erstellung des digitalen Textkorpus und dessen lin-guistischer Analyse dar. Für die noch nicht vollständig entzifferte Schrift und Sprache des Klassi-schen Maya ist der Zeichenkatalog das essentielle Hilfsmittel zur Identifikation und Klassifikation der im Schriftsystem verwendeten Zeichen. Aufgrund besonderer Eigenschaften der Hieroglyphen-schrift und der noch unvollständigen und damit auch auf Hypothesen basierenden Entzifferung ist eine Neukonzeption zur Inventarisierung und Klassifikation von Mayaschriftzeichen notwendig. Herausforderungen bei der Modellierung stellen sich vor allem bei der Erfassung von Zeichen und deren Zuordnung zu Graphemen sowie der qualitativen Bewertung und Einstufung von Entziffe-rungshypothesen. Dieser Beitrag konzentriert sich auf die Vorstellung des Zeichenkatalogs und sei-ner Bedeutung für die Erforschung des Schriftsystems des Klassischen Maya. Dabei wird der ge-wählte Modellierungsansatz erläutert und die Methode der Anforderungsanalyse unter besonderer Betrachtung des Aspekts der interdisziplinären Arbeit in einem Digital Humanities Projekt beschrie-ben.
The hitherto only partially deciphered Maya hieroglyphic writing system is one of the most eminent examples of the development of writing in the world. The present article discusses a new description scheme for graphemes in Maya writing.... more
The hitherto only partially deciphered Maya hieroglyphic writing system is one of the most eminent examples of the development of writing in the world. The present article discusses a new description scheme for graphemes in Maya writing. Previous sign catalogues applied a more or less random approach to make an inventory of allographs. Our scheme works on the basis of sign-morphological criteria and revises the coding scheme established by Eric Thompson. This new grapheme classification is moreover designed to match the requirements of corpus linguistics and machine readability.
No existing digital work environment can sufficiently represent the traditional epigraphic workflow ‘documentation, analysis, interpretation, publication’ for a non-alphabetic writing system. Using the Maya hieroglyphic script, this... more
No existing digital work environment can sufficiently represent the traditional epigraphic workflow ‘documentation, analysis, interpretation, publication’ for a non-alphabetic writing system. Using the Maya hieroglyphic script, this workflow will be transferred to a digital epigraphy. Digital methods and tools will be developed and reused in a Virtual Research Environment to create a freely accessible, annotated textual corpus, including metadata on cultural and object history and references.
In onomastics, toponyms embrace a broad variety of categories to name geographical entities, objects and features, whether they are natural or artifical. This paper pursues the question of how toponyms can be classified and seeks examples... more
In onomastics, toponyms embrace a broad variety of categories to name geographical entities, objects and features, whether they are natural or artifical. This paper pursues the question of how toponyms can be classified and seeks examples to illustrate these cases, involving a structural approach of how to identify toponyms in the hieroglyphic record. This in turn leads to the question how toponyms of the different categories are formed, by compounding and affixation patterns. Also, linguistic peculiarities may be indicators to identify a Classic Mayan language geography, also in comparison with general onomastics. This relates to the identification of exonyms in the texts as well, as they can be proposed for Teotihuacan place names. Finally, the formation of demonyms relates how toponyms are integrated into the socio-political sphere and help to shape identities.
A spectre is haunting Maya epigraphy, the spectre of sign properties and orthographic premises – both a constant source of vexation and argument in recent years. A functional classification into cenemic and pleremic signs has long been... more
A spectre is haunting Maya epigraphy, the spectre of sign properties and orthographic premises – both a constant source of vexation and argument in recent years. A functional classification into cenemic and pleremic signs has long been established. New classes of graphemes and underlying representational rules were proposed since then, debating the nature of Maya writing: diacritics, determinatives, or morphosyllables; to name only a few. Some of these have and continue to cause considerable epigraphic debate and confusion. A 2011 “Written Language & Literacy” issue was devoted to methodologies to define writing system typologies and advocated a stronger comparative approach, a recommendation this paper fully supports in its discussion of Maya hieroglyphic writing.
Comparative graphematics is not entirely new in Maya epigraphy. But instead of using arguments from other writing systems for a line of support, it is worthwhile to take a more multi-faceted approach with comparisons, thereby obtaining a clearer classificatory benefit. For example, homophony and determinatives graphematically differ in Maya, Egyptian, or Cuneiform writing; as diverging emanations of a logo-syllabic system. Contrasting all three systems leads to a clear understanding of similarities as well as differences and leads to a more precise typology.
Only in roughly the past decade, it has become acknowledged that the Classic Mayan language is not a monolithic block. In actuality, a diverse range of vernacular forms pervade Maya hieroglyphic writing. Instead of being a prestige... more
Only in roughly the past decade, it has become acknowledged that the Classic Mayan language is not a monolithic block. In actuality, a diverse range of vernacular forms pervade Maya hieroglyphic writing. Instead of being a prestige language used by the elite, Maya writing to a certain degree reflects a substratum of spoken languages. This paper specifically investigates grammatical forms that point to a specific branch or language that is represented in the script. A better understanding of the grammar of the Mayan languages allows for a more correct identification of these vernacular influences.
I will showcase several vernacular forms, some already discussed in the literature, and add new thoughts on their morphological analysis. I conclude with how such epigraphic data helps in calibrating data from historical linguistics thereby understanding the dynamic exchange between Mayan languages in Classic times.
The meaning of emblem glyphs is now widely accepted as an indicator or presentation of a specific site or polity over which a site had domain. It is well known that specific emblems show unusual patterns of both individual and spatial... more
The meaning of emblem glyphs is now widely accepted as an indicator or presentation of a specific site or polity over which a site had domain. It is well known that specific emblems show unusual patterns of both individual and spatial distribution. Thus, a mere territorial reference might not be appropriate to describe the complex socio-political dimension of emblem glyphs.
This paper will argue by using some crucial texts that emblem glyphs served as an emic identifier for the elite groups governing polities. A number of showcases from the epigraphic record reveal political statements concerning the application of emblem glyphs. The examples include the sharing of the same emblem across sites, the combination of two distinct emblems in one or more sites, and the migration of emblems between sites.
If we subsume this information under the variations in emblem glyphs according to a person’s current sociopolitical role, we get an important insight into how the elite self-conception in Classic times shaped political identification, relations and boudaries. The processes behind the genesis, distribution and extinction of emblems do not only inform about the self-identity of the people referring to this emblem, but also about the rise and fall of the cities they ruled.
The present article summarizes several aspects of recent research in the Classic Maya site of Tamarindito in the Department of Petén, Guatemala, separated into archaeology and epigraphy. The archaeological section will focus on results of... more
The present article summarizes several aspects of recent research in the Classic Maya site of Tamarindito in the Department of Petén, Guatemala, separated into archaeology and epigraphy. The archaeological section will focus on results of the 2010 field season of the Tamarindito Archaeological Project, directed by Markus Eberl. An unusual walled group excavated this year is discussed in more detail along with its implications on the borders of Classic Maya centers. In the epigraphy section, Sven Gronemeyer provides new insights into the written history of the site and its hieroglyphic corpus.
We present the results from the second field season at the site of Tamarindito, Petexbatún, carried out in 2010. This work consisted of three components: a) systematic survey of the northeastern area of the Petexbatún; b) mapping the site... more
We present the results from the second field season at the site of Tamarindito, Petexbatún, carried out in 2010. This work consisted of three components: a) systematic survey of the northeastern area of the Petexbatún; b) mapping the site of Tamarindito; c) excavations in the residential groups of Tamarindito. The principal focus of the Project is to analyze the lives of commoners in Maya culture. It is of great interest to understand their internal social organization and development over time, beginning in the Preclassic and ending in the Late Classic, when Tamarindito was abandoned.
Previamente limitado a ciertos grupos (es decir, círculos esotéricos y de la Nueva era), el llamado “fin del mundo” se desplaza rápidamente al foco público. Según las informaciones calendáricas en el Monumento 6 de Tortuguero (13.0.0.0.0,... more
Previamente limitado a ciertos grupos (es decir, círculos esotéricos y de la Nueva era), el llamado “fin del mundo” se desplaza rápidamente al foco público. Según las informaciones calendáricas en el Monumento 6 de Tortuguero (13.0.0.0.0, 4 Ajaw 3 K’ank’in), se puede fechar este evento en el solsticio de invierno de 2012, que es el 21 de diciembre.
Hay profecías para el k’atun 4 Ajaw en el libro de Chilam Balam de Tizimín (MS pp. 19-20), pero la fuente más citada es el texto jeroglífico del Monumento 6 de Tortuguero, específicamente del panel derecho. Gracias a nuevos materiales de documentación, el autor junto con Barbara MacLeod pudo extraer informaciones epigráficas no consideradas previamente.
En lo siguiente, voy a presentar la evidencia epigráfica de Tortuguero, un sitio al pie del escarpe del Cerro El Tortuguero en Tabasco con una interpretación comparativa, es decir, con materiales etnohistóricos y modernos. La mención del evento futuro de la terminación del 13º bak’tun sigue un programa que sitúa el señor de Tortuguero, Bahlam Ajaw (r. 644-679 d. C.), en un narrativo mítico-histórico, conectando el inicio de la era actual en 13.0.0.0.0, 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u (11 de agosto, 3114 a. C.) con su reflejo en el futuro. Una pregunta muy importante relacionada con la terminación del 13º bak’tun es la consideración del sujeto de profecías en la literatura maya. ¿Cómo se refirieron los mayas a eventos futuros y en qué referencia temporal?
The research project "Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae" dedicates itself to the critical editions of Near Eastern music manuscripts that saw increasing production from the early 19th century onwards to record music especially centered in... more
The research project "Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae" dedicates itself to the critical editions of Near Eastern music manuscripts that saw increasing production from the early 19th century onwards to record music especially centered in Ottoman Istanbul. The principal way to write down this originally oral tradition was in Hampartsum notation, invented around 1812 by an Armenian of the same name before it became discontinued with the introduction of Western staff notation from 1830 onwards. Within the project's scope, there are three areas of research and deliverables: the indexing of sources in a catalog, the music edition under consideration of modal and rhythmic principles of Ottoman music, and the text edition of sung poetry mainly in Ottoman Turkish written in various scripts. Overarching are the digital humanities to present the research output in a holistic approach. This paper will focus on the design of representing the text edition in TEI XML format.
Polities require individuals who envision and materialize them; in turn, people's political identity as residents depends on them. The polity and the resident are self-evident only in hindsight, and we discuss their co-constitution.... more
Polities require individuals who envision and materialize them; in turn, people's political identity as residents depends on them. The polity and the resident are self-evident only in hindsight, and we discuss their co-constitution. During subjectification, people create and submit to an authority. Our case study is the Early Classic (AD 350-600) emergence of Tamarindito in the south-central Maya Lowlands (modern Guatemala). The Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project and the Tamarindito Archaeological Project have extensively studied this capital of the Foliated Scroll polity. Although its divine rulers present themselves as fully formed since time immemorial, we discuss how they built their authority through self-serving narratives. Tamarindito originates in the Early Classic, and in the late fourth or fifth century, rulers selected a 70 m high hill as seat. Plaza A's monumentality conceals a small-scale labor effort and a slowly growing polity. Only two non-elite households attached themselves to the royal court during the fifth and sixth centuries, suggesting that non-elites recognized the royal authority only slowly. The formation of the Foliated Scroll polity was an immanent process. Self-aggrandizing divine kings struggled to claim authority, and non-elites subjectified themselves over several centuries.
El descubrimiento de la Estela 87 in situ en un contexto secundario, como un elemento reutilizado de sacralización en una residencia posiblemente real del Clásico Temprano, nos permite ubicar el tiempo de la función original como una... more
El descubrimiento de la Estela 87 in situ en un contexto secundario, como
un elemento reutilizado de sacralización en una residencia posiblemente real del Clásico Temprano, nos permite ubicar el tiempo de la función original como una estela en el Preclásico Tardío. Es en el Preclásico Tardío que la imagen y el texto con cuatro signos glíficos aluden al gobernante allí representado. Es en la primera parte del Preclásico Tardío que las estelas de Tak’alik Ab’aj y de otras ciudades tempranas representan a sus gobernantes, aún sin una fecha de cuenta larga. Ésta se implementó en la segunda parte del Preclásico Tardío, de la cual un buen ejemplo es la Estela 5 (126 d.C.). Por ello, la iconografía y escritura de la Estela 87 agrega otro exponente y oportunidad, particularmente para la región de la costa del Pacífico, al estudio del todavía pequeño universo de los textos tempranos, y más precisamente, de la primera parte del Preclásico Tardío (100 a.C.-50 d.C.) (Schieber de Lavarreda, 2020a). Es esta oportunidad la que motivó el presente estudio colaborativo.
Maya hieroglyphic script (300 BCE-1500 CE) is a semi-deciphered logographic and syllabic autochthonous writing system from the Americas and is one of the most signicant writing traditions of the ancient world. Because of its incomplete... more
Maya hieroglyphic script (300 BCE-1500 CE) is a semi-deciphered logographic and syllabic autochthonous writing system from the Americas and is one of the most signicant writing traditions of the ancient world. Because of its incomplete state of decipherment, complexity and variation in graphematics, and partially lost lexicon, transliterations cannot be used within the encoding. The project Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan approaches this challenge with an encoding strategy relying on stand-o markup, which is enriched with additional information sources. Using dierent formats (RDF, XML) and standards (CIDOC CRM, TEI P5), the inscriptions are encoded in a multilevel corpus: (1) a tei_all-compliant schema dening values and rules for the encoding of the text's topological and structural features, (2) a "Sign Catalogue"
A Maya stela with a hieroglyphic text and a portrayal of a Maya ruler that is now in the collections of the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany (inventory no. M 30751), has received scant attention from scholars to date 1. This stela is... more
A Maya stela with a hieroglyphic text and a portrayal of a Maya ruler that is now in the collections of the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany (inventory no. M 30751), has received scant attention from scholars to date 1. This stela is the focus of current research by the authors as members of the project "Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan", who have been collaborating with Doris Kurella of the Linden Museum since 2018. Using the project's 3D white light scanner, the authors created a high-resolution digital version and three-dimensional visualization of the stela in the storage facilities of the Linden Museum (Figures 1-2). Digital image processing was employed to render legible text passages that can now barely be read with the naked eye and to clarify aspects of the ruler's representation. These developments have led to new understanding of the contents and origin of the stela, which we are presenting here in English for the first time. Our analysis concludes that the monument illustrates a previously unknown Maya king of the small polity of Hix Witz (English "Ocelot/Margay Hill") from the early ninth century CE and most likely originates from Zapote Bobal in Petén, Guatemala, or a neighboring site. Together with the nearby site of El Pajaral (see Figure 11), these two settlements constitute the core of a small, Late Classic polity whose rulers referred to themselves as the kings of Hix Witz and competed with other small polities for regional dominance and control of resources between 600 and 850. According to the inscription, the front of the stela shows a ruler of Hix Witz/Zapote Bobal, whose name is only partially interpretable as Ahiin Ahk ? Witz and who presumably ascended to the throne in the late eighth or early ninth century as the last king of this polity. Our investigations thus add to the list of historical persons whose names appear in the Maya hieroglyphic corpus between 465 and ca. 800 CE in connection with the toponymic title of Hix Witz.
The present note is about a very rare lexeme in the epigraphic record: waal ‘fan’. Among the handful of examples, a unique context on the polychrome ceramic vessel K2914, the famous Denver Art Museum vase, allows identification of a... more
The present note is about a very rare lexeme in the epigraphic record: waal ‘fan’. Among the handful of examples, a unique context on the polychrome ceramic vessel K2914, the famous Denver Art Museum vase, allows identification of a hitherto unrecognized courtly function: yok waal as the ‘fan-bearer’ or ‘fan-wielder’.
Classic Maya "killed" objects. They broke and dispersed ceramic vessels. After adding exotic artifacts, they burned everything, buried the deposit with marl, and tore down associated rooms or buildings. This complex set of interrelated... more
Classic Maya "killed" objects. They broke and dispersed ceramic vessels. After adding exotic artifacts, they burned everything, buried the deposit with marl, and tore down associated rooms or buildings. This complex set of interrelated activities has been classified as a termination ritual. Instead of accepting this as a natural category, we study how the Classic Maya strategically differentiated some practices from others. Our case study are the deposits in Structure 5PS-12, an eighth-century AD building at the outskirts of the royal capital of Tamarindito, Guatemala. Destroyed wall foundations and evenly distributed wall fall indicate that Structure 5PS-12 was dismantled. Complete tools and exotic artifacts are found within the wall fall and on the floor. Refitted ceramic sherds show that partial vessels were broken apart and scattered across the building. The combination and sequence of these practices reveal a deliberate strategy to distinguish some practices from others. Its practitioners may have witnessed a fire ceremony conducted by the divine rulers of Tamarindito in AD 762. Structure 5PS-12 attests to shared and possibly copied ritual procedures, whereas unique practices establish a local way of abandonment. The process of differentiation allows people to display but also question shared cultural frameworks. The Maya ritualized practices in a social discourse about appropriate norms and behaviors.
One contributor to the calligraphic complexity of Classic Maya writing is the ability afforded by the script to create allographs. There are examples with multiple stages of extraction and simplification to create allographs. In order to... more
One contributor to the calligraphic complexity of Classic Maya writing is the ability afforded by the script to create allographs. There are examples with multiple stages of extraction and simplification to create allographs. In order to create a unique graph, distinctive parts of the feline WAY icon are merged into the well-known allograph with its right half covered in jaguar fur, although both allographs represent the very same sign.
The unique characteristics of Maya writing pose special challenges for research, from which contradictory and doubtful deciphering hypotheses emerge. The project ›Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan‹ aims at creating a... more
The unique characteristics of Maya writing pose special challenges for research, from which contradictory and doubtful deciphering hypotheses emerge. The project ›Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan‹ aims at creating a machine-readable corpus of all Maya texts and compiling a dictionary on this basis. An inventory of all hieroglyphs is an indispensable instrument for further decipherment. This paper describes the development of the digital Sign Catalogue with special consideration of the modelling of decipherment hypotheses and their qualitative evaluation. Furthermore, the article emphasises the role of knowledge representation in Digital Humanities projects.
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Die einzigartigen Eigenschaften der Maya-Schrift stellen die Forschung vor besondere Herausforderungen, aus denen widersprüchliche und zweifelhafte Entzifferungshypothesen hervorgehen. Das Projekt ›Textdatenbank und Wörterbuch des Klassischen Maya‹ verfolgt das Ziel, ein maschinenlesbares Korpus aller Maya-Texte zu erstellen und anhand dessen ein Wörterbuch zu kompilieren. Zur Entzifferung der Schrift ist ein Inventar aller Hieroglyphen ein unverzichtbares Instrument. Dieser Beitrag schildert die Entwicklung des digitalen Zeichenkatalogs unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Modellierung von Entzifferungshypothesen und deren qualitative Bewertung. Weiterhin thematisiert der Beitrag die Rolle der Wissensrepräsentation in Digital Humanities-Projekten.
This epigraphic note reviews David Stuart’s proposal for a t’a syllabogram and enriches the evidence for his reading by providing more examples in different productive contexts.
This article pursues a critical review of the so-called morphosyllabicsigns proposed by Houston, Robertson & Stuart in 2001. These are supposed to be syllabic signs carrying meaning to spell grammatical morphemes. I would like to argue... more
This article pursues a critical review of the so-called morphosyllabicsigns proposed by Houston, Robertson & Stuart in 2001. These are supposed to be syllabic signs carrying meaning to spell grammatical morphemes. I would like to argue from a phonological and grammatological perspective why I believe that morphosyllables cannot work as proposed. By comparing the spelling principlesof preposed morphemes with suffixes, I expose a pattern that points to a simple syllabic use in these cases. There are indications that sound integrations at morpheme boundaries are realised by spelling alterations and that the recipient’s knowledge of the written language was required to mentally anticipate under-spelled phonemes.
For the classification and systematization of Mayan hieroglyphs, we developed a digital Sign Catalogue. As an inventory of all signs.it is an indispensable tool for identifying the glyphs used in a specific text. The identification and... more
For the classification and systematization of Mayan hieroglyphs, we developed a digital Sign Catalogue. As an inventory of all signs.it is an indispensable tool for identifying the glyphs used in a specific text. The identification and and classification of the signs is challenging, because they appear in several graphic variants and can have multiple sign functions, for example as a logograph or as a syllabic sign. Further, continuing academic discussions over the decipherment of the approximately 1000 signs arise various hypotheses for linguistic readings of individual signs. The demands of analyzing this complex writing system and of integrating the continually changing state of research into the sign catalog necessitate a flexible data model. It must be able to react to potential changes, and the documented information must be both reproducible and verifiable. We chose an ontologically based modelling approach based on CIDOC CRM 1 and GOLD 2. The data model was implemented in RDF to optimally represent the semantic relations between the entities. The use of graph technology enables semantic queries of the data. The assessment of proposed readings is a particular challenge for the decipherment and analysis of Maya writing. Multiple readings for a series of signs are attested throughout the research literature. We not only want to document, but also to qualitatively evaluate them. Drawing on the academic literature on the Maya script, we developed sets of criteria oriented toward linguistic context of use (e.g., correct part of speech, plausible text-image relationship, etc.), among other parameters (compare Kelley 1976). For each set, the criteria are linked with each other using propositional logic, so that an appropriate confidence level can be obtained according to the combination. 1 CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model http://www.cidoc-crm.org/. 2 General Ontology for Linguistic Description http://linguistics-ontology.org/.
English version of the milestone report on our research activities between 2014 and 2016 (translated by Mallory Matsumoto, Brown University).
The only partially deciphered Maya hieroglyphic script and language constitute the primary focus of this research project, which has been carried out cooperatively by the University of Bonn and the Göttingen State and University Library... more
The only partially deciphered Maya hieroglyphic script and language constitute the primary focus of this research project, which has been carried out cooperatively by the University of Bonn and the Göttingen State and University Library (Niedersächsische Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, SUB) 1 since mid-2014 and funded by the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts. The project's goal is to compile a text database and, on this basis, a dictionary of Classic Mayan, the language of a civilization which reached its florescence between A.D. 250 and 950. When the project was inaugurated in 2014, the approximately 10,000 extant text and image carriers that permit a detailed and precise investigation of the Classic Mayan literary language had yet to be systematically documented or comprehensively analyzed. In the context of the project, the text and image carriers will be systematically described according to uniform standards. This source material will be made machine-readable with XML (Extensible Markup Language) and integrated into the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) of the research association TextGrid 2 , thereby creating the foundation for compiling the dictionary. The project draws on methods and technologies from the Digital Humanities that are already available in the VRE or are being developed and implemented in the context of the project. To this end, we are adapting digital tools and services provided by TextGrid to the project's needs, and these project-specific adjustments are summarized under the acronym IDIOM " Interdisciplinary Database of Classic Mayan ". IDIOM permits systematic and networked analysis of Classic Maya text, image, and information carriers using the technology of TextGrid. The structure and functions of IDIOM thus orient themselves toward the epigraphic workflow " documentation – description – analysis – publication " , thereby supporting our work with the inscriptions.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This study investigates the orthography of Maya writing on an empirical and statistical basis. It restricts itself to the realisation of certain grammatical morphemes that are selected as representative showcases. Furthermore, the... more
This study investigates the orthography of Maya writing on an empirical and statistical basis. It restricts itself to the realisation of certain grammatical morphemes that are selected as representative showcases. Furthermore, the question of spelling alternations at the morphemic boundary between the root and grammatical suffix are investigated. The process of re-transferring the epigraphically attested grapheme string back into a phoneme string has proven to be an ambiguous process.

A statistical assessment of the underlying representational rules for grammatical suffixes needs to consider both phonology and function. The epigraphic evidence is therefore first viewed against the linguistic data of relevant Mayan languages and before the background of historical linguistics. Based on previous epigraphic research, hypotheses can be formulated, how these grammatical forms can be represented in writing.

With this knowledge, samples are gathered from the hieroglyphic corpus. These samples are subject to a three-tier analytical process: (1) linguistic analysis and attribution with analytical parameters in a data base, (2) significance tests for spelling patterns and other methods from quantitative linguistics, and (3) discussion of the test results against the linguistic hypotheses.

The tests largely confirm specific orthographic rules in a variety of environments. The rules also provide an important contribution to the vocalisation of grammatical suffixes and therefore to the pronunciation of the Classic Mayan language. The specification of standard patterns also enables a better explanations of deviations. Thus, more light can be shed on a large range of aspects: (1) language genealogy and geography, (2) vernacular influences, (3) socio-linguistics, or (4) scribal schools, to name only a few.

More confidence in a standardised Classic Mayan orthography also fosters increased trust in the vocalisation of the language and ultimately more confidence to more correctly read and interpret hieroglyphic texts. It is one step towards a consolidated grammar of Classic Mayan.
Conference Poster presented at the Digital Humanities Summit, March 3 and 4, 2015, Berlin (https://de.dariah.eu/dhsummit2015)
www.mayawoerterbuch.de www.mayadictionary.de www.diccionariomaya.de The new website of our project "Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan" has been uploaded last week. Information is provided in Spanish, English and German. The... more
www.mayawoerterbuch.de
www.mayadictionary.de
www.diccionariomaya.de

The new website of our project "Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan" has been uploaded last week. Information is provided in Spanish, English and German. The goal of our long term project housed at the University of Bonn and funded by the Northrhine-Westfalian Academy of Science is to create a corpus of all known hieroglyphic texts, which will serve as a basis for the compilation of a dictionary of Classic Mayan. The project is a cooperation between the Department for the Anthropology of the Americas, the eHumanities research network TextGrid at the Göttingen State and University Library (Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen) and the Bonn University Library (Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn). It is thus located within the Digital Humanities, linking epigraphic research with information technology. In cooperation with these partners, we develope and create a digital text corpus that generates the comprehensive dictionary of Classic Mayan and its use in writing, which will be published both in digital and printed format. The compilation of the corpus and the dictionary will provide a foundation for the systematic analysis and understanding of the Classic Mayan writing system and its underlying language structure. The machine-readable text corpus is projected as a dynamically organized lexical database that permits complex queries and computer-assisted text analyses.
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http://mayawoerterbuch.de/?cat=202&lang=en The working list of the Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan project, sorted by site name, primarily encompasses the archaeological sites in Mesoamerica where Maya hieroglyphic... more
http://mayawoerterbuch.de/?cat=202&lang=en

The working list of the Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan project, sorted by site name, primarily encompasses the archaeological sites in Mesoamerica where Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions have been discovered and verifiably documented over the course of archaeological survey and excavations.

It constitutes the foundation of the inscription inventory that the Bonn project team is currently preparing and that will also be published and maintained on the project website as a separate, dynamic working list. With these materials, the project offers an overview of the documented sites that also indicates the text carriers found at each location.

The working list with the names of the sites is a “liquid document”. It presently comprises over 500 entries that are currently being edited and prepared for online publication on this website. The print out version presented on Academia comprises 296 sites, the rest will be included consecutively within the next few weeks. This database-based publication form is dynamic and has the advantage over printed site lists that newly discovered ruins with inscriptions can immediately be entered into the site database, thus allowing the working list to be constantly updated.

For the sake of its sustainable use and long-term storage, the most recent version of this “liquid document” will be published in print at regular intervals as part of the project’s annual report. For each site, not only will sources be cited (personal communications, bibliographic and internet references, maps etc.), but essential metadata will also be documented, for example the preferred name for the site, alternative designations or spellings, abbreviations, geographic coordinates and additional references. Our metadata concept will be introduced below.

The sites themselves are indicated in Google Maps using geographic coordinates, if known. The research data themselves are in the public domain and will be made available under the CC BY license.
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The Text Database and Dictionary of Classic Mayan Project at Bonn University will publish at irregular intervals high resolution 3D models of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions (CC-BY). Weblink is https://sketchfab.com/idiom-project
The discovery of Stela 87 in situ in a secondary context, as a reused element of sacralization in a possibly royal residence from the Early Classic, allows us to locate the time of the original function as a stela in the Late Preclassic.... more
The discovery of Stela 87 in situ in a secondary context, as a reused element of sacralization in a possibly royal residence from the Early Classic, allows us to locate the time of the original function as a stela in the Late Preclassic. It is in the Late Preclassic that the image and the text with 4 glyphic signs allude to the ruler represented there. It is in the early part of the Late Preclassic that stelae at Tak’alik Ab’aj and other early cities represent their rulers, still without a long count date.
This was implemented in the second part of the Late Preclassic, of which a good example is Stela 5 (126 ad). For this reason, the iconography and writing of Estela 87 adds another exponent and opportunity, particularly for the Pacific Coast region, to the study of the still small universe of early texts, and more precisely, of the first part of the Late Preclassic (100 BC-50 ad) (Schieber de Lavarreda, 2020a). It is this opportunity that motivated the present collaborative study.
The discovery of Stela 87 in situ in a secondary context, as a reused element of sacralization in a possibly royal residence from the Early Classic, allows us to locate the time of the original function as a stela in the Late Preclassic.... more
The discovery of Stela 87 in situ in a secondary context, as a reused element of sacralization in a possibly royal residence from the Early Classic, allows us to locate the time of the original function as a stela in the Late Preclassic. It is in the Late Preclassic that the image and the text with 4 glyphic signs allude to the ruler represented there. It is in the early part of the Late Preclassic that stelae at Tak’alik Ab’aj and other early cities represent their rulers, still without a long count date. This was implemented in the second part of the Late Preclassic, of which a good example is Stela 5 (126 ad). For this reason, the iconography and writing of Estela 87 adds another exponent and opportunity, particularly for the Pacific Coast region, to the study of the still small universe of early texts, and more precisely, of the first part of the Late Preclassic (100 BC-50 ad) (Schieber de Lavarreda, 2020a). It is this opportunity that motivated the present collaborative study.
No existing digital work environment can sufficiently represent the traditional epigraphic workflow ‘documentation, analysis, interpretation, publication’ for a non-alphabetic writing system. Using the Maya hieroglyphic script, this... more
No existing digital work environment can sufficiently represent the traditional epigraphic workflow ‘documentation, analysis, interpretation, publication’ for a non-alphabetic writing system. Using the Maya hieroglyphic script, this workflow will be transferred to a digital epigraphy. Digital methods and tools will be developed and reused in a Virtual Research Environment to create a freely accessible, annotated textual corpus, including metadata on cultural and object history and references.
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