Interdisciplinary studies are becoming more and more common, especially in fields like Egyptology. This holistic approach can tease out more details than a single-subject study can by itself. This was the basis of my master’s thesis which focused on a single object. By examining this object in a variety of ways, I could learn more about the object by studying a single aspect by itself. The digital humanities, or using new technology to aid in the study of humanities research, are especially useful. Using new technology to study the ancient past is essential, as this case study shows.
In this case study, I examined an object called a cippus (plural: cippi). Cippi are religious objects that became popular around 664 BCE and continued to be used until around 100 CE. The one pictured here is in the Eskenazi Musuem of Art in Bloomington, Indiana and was tentatively dated to 300-100 BCE.
The cippus is carved with the image of Horus the child surrounded by dangerous animals, gods, and hieroglyphs. They can range in size from small pendants and earrings to over one meter (35 inches). Small cippi would be used by individuals, while the largest were used communally. The user would pour water over the cippus, then drink the water. This would afford the user protection from dangerous animals.
On the back of cippi are usually hieroglyphic inscriptions detailing the myth of how Horus the child was hurt by a dangerous animal and subsequently healed by the solar god Re. This cippus, however, was heavily damaged and the inscription was illegible. The sticker at the top further obscured the gods usually depicted on cippi.
Using a process called Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), I was able to draw more of the inscription out and confirm some questionable signs. RTI is created by taking a series of photos from the same angle but changing the ligth position. Using RTI maker software, these images are stacked on top of eachother and the light source can be virtually moved, much like shining a flashlight on a tomb wall.
RTI was useuful, but I also wanted to create a virtual 3D model of the cippus. This would allow me to examine the object in ways not possible in the museum. I could strip the texture off to examine the carving, zoom in to see details more clearly, and view the object away from the museum.
Finally, I combined photogrammetry and RTI into a process called Virtual Reflectance Transformation Imaging (VRTI). I inserted the 3D model created using photogrammetry into a virtual scene that included a camera and lights. Then, I performed RTI in this virtual setting to see if there were any carvings that would help with deciphering the inscription.
Of course, some things don’t work the way you want. The carvings were so shallow, they did not register properly on the 3D model. Therefore, performing VRTI was essentially useless for this study.
The process did not yield fully the results I was hoping for, but it did give me new insights into the inscription and images carved on the cippus, which can help with dating the object.
Finally, I collated all of the inscriptions and new findings with a method called digital epigraphy. Here, I traced line drawings of the cippus. I drew the carvings based on images in black, then added new detaills in blue and red to show where RTI and VRTI helped read the inscription.
Overall, I was able to read more of the inscription than previous attempts. Based on the images on the cippus and the bits of the inscription I could read, I determined that the cippus could be dated to 180-30 BCE. This is was based on studying other cippi from this time period. The way Horus the Child was carved, the animals he is pictured with, the gods present on the cippus, and the text found on it are all clues into dating a cippus. Despite the heavy damage infliced on the object, I was able to draw more information out of it by using digital humanities and could provide a narrower date for the object.