News from Cuneiform Digital Library Notes (CDLN)

We are pleased to announce the publication of several new contributions to the Cuneiform Digital Library Notes (CDLN):

CDLN 2015:001
Klaus Wagensonner, On an alternative way of capturing RTI images with the camera dome

CDLN 2015:002
Strahil V. Panayotov and Kostadin Kissiov, An administrative tablet from Puzriš-Dagān in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

CDLN 2015:003
Klaus Wagensonner, Turning the Laws of Ur-Namma

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all contributors to CDLN for their support and would like to encourage scholars to contribute to the Notes in future as well.

References and bibliographies:
As of now all bibliographical information is drawn directly from a MySQL database. It is therefore not necessary anymore to send fully formatted bibliographies along with submitted contributions. For all references that are included among the latest available bibliographies on KeiBi Online it is possible to save references and export them into the BibTeX format and send this document along. A full bibliography was added on CDLN, which contains all references used in the various contributions. Clicking on a year leads to the respective contribution(s), where the chosen reference is used. Vice versa, each reference list links back to the full bibliography.

As a test run the “Abbreviations for Assyriology” maintained by CDLI:wiki have been imported into the database as well. By hovering over abbreviations in the bibliographies the full form and additional information is given. Further features such as indices of texts mentioned are in preparation.

We do hope that these changes will increase the efficiency of CDLN and are therefore happy to receive contributions for the next publication of Notes on April 1, 2015.

Submitted contributions are preferably made available as text files or in the RTF format. If the contribution contains tables, word or pages documents may be submitted as well. Please note that in order to aid the editing process, please be so kind to provide all images in separate files and not embedded in the submitted documents.

The CDLN, together with its sister publications Cuneiform Digital Library Bulletin (CDLB) and Cuneiform Digital Library Journal (CDLJ), are peer-reviewed publications that offer a persistent web presence under the auspices of the University of California system. As e-journals, the delay between submission and publication is well below that of academic print journals, while the interaction with cuneiform artifacts documented in the CDLI database offers obvious strengths for an interactive discourse. Authors should expect a two to four month interval between submission of a draft text with illustrations and its publication for substantive contributions to the CDLJ, at most two months for those made to the Bulletin, and approximately two weeks for the Notes that are conceived as an online venue for NABU-style communications that can include short philological or lexicographical contributions as well as regular updates of a more substantial nature describing the background or progress of, in particular, web-based research efforts. For submission guidelines including technicalities regarding bibliographical citations etc. please consult the information at <http://cdli.ucla.edu/?q=about-cdln>.

New submissions will appear in preprint status four times a year (January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1; notices of new submissions will be made to this list) and are clearly marked as such. During the preprint period, authors will be able to make small, non-substantive changes (e.g., typographical errors) to their submissions. After two weeks, these submissions are then archived.

Scholars are encouraged to send contributions to the CDLN at <klaus.wagensonner@orinst.ox.ac.uk>.

On behalf of the CDLI

Jacob L. Dahl and Klaus Wagensonner
University of Oxford

Historical Sources on Decipherment of Several Writing Systems

Historical Sources on Decipherment of Several Writing Systems

Amiaud, A.; Mechineau, L., Tableau compare des ecritures babylonienne et assyrienne archaiques et modernes, avec classement des signes d'apres leur forme archaique, 1887

Source information 

Grotefend, G. F., Ueber die Erklärung der Keilschriften, und besonders der Inschriften von Persepolis; aus: Ideen über die Politik, den Verkehr und den Handel der vornehmsten Völker der alten Welt, 1. Teil [Heeren, Arnold Hermann Ludwig], 1824

Source information 

Hilprecht, Hermann Vollrat, Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century, 1903

Source information 

Hugo, Herman, De prima scribendi origine et universa rei literariae antiquitate, 1617

Source information 

Köcher, Franz, Beschwörungen gegen die Dämonin Lamastu.; Inaugural - Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades genehmigt von der philosophischen Fakultät der Universität zu Berlin von Franz Köcher aus Auma, 1949

Source information 

Layard, Austen Henry, The monuments of Nineveh : from drawings made on the spot ; together with: a second series of the monuments of Nineveh ; including bas-reliefs from the Palace of Sannacherib and bronzes from the ruins of Nimroud ; from drawings made on the spot during a second expedition to Assyria; vol. 1, 1849

Source information

Layard, Austen Henry, The monuments of Nineveh : from drawings made on the spot ; together with: a second series of the monuments of Nineveh ; including bas-reliefs from the Palace of Sannacherib and bronzes from the ruins of Nimroud ; from drawings made on the spot during a second expedition to Assyria; vol. 2, 1853

Source information 

Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke [ed.], The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. 1-3, 1861/1866

Works included:
Vol. I: A Selection from the historical Inscriptions of Chaldeaa, Assyria, et Babylonia
Vol. 2: A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Assyria
Vol. 3: A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Assyria
Source information  

Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke [ed.], The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. 4-5, 1875

Works included:
Vol. 4: A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Assyria
Vol. 5: A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia
Source information  

Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke, The Persian Cuneiform Inscription at Behistun, decyphered and translated; with a memoir on Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions in general and on that of Behistun in particular, 1846/47

Source information 

Schrader, Eberhard, Die assyrisch-babylonischen Keilinschriften : kritische Untersuchung der Grundlagen ihrer Entzifferung ; nebst dem babylonischen Texte der trilinguen Inschriften in Transcription samt Übersetzung und Glossar, 1872

Source information  

Wilkins, Charles, A grammar of the Sanskrita language, 1808

Source information

Online from:

European Cultural Heritage Online (ECHO)
Open Access Infrastructure for a Future Web of Culture and Science

Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) web site survey

Dear CDLI Contributors and Users:

The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) began working with the UCLA Library in 2007 to ensure long-term digital storage and preservation of and enhanced access to digital content offered through the CDLI Web site (http://cdli.ucla.edu/). This collaboration has been supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

As part of the effort to enhance access to this digital collection, the UCLA Library would like to better understand the current strengths and weaknesses of the CDLI Web site, as well as learn more about the audience of the CDLI content. Please assist us by completing a short survey available at http://tinyurl.com/bzfhjc. The survey is 10 short questions and takes approximately 10-15 minutes.

We appreciate your help as we work to improve the CDLI Web site. If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please contact UCLA Librarian Sharon Shafer at sshafer [at] library.ucla.edu.

Best regards,

Elizabeth McAulay and Sharon Shafer
UCLA Library