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Digital Heritage Repatriation : The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative in Arabic

Rattenborg, Rune LU orcid ; Aqil Abid, Haider ; Pagé-Perron, Émilie and Jotheri, Jaafar (2026) British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology Annual Conference, UCL London, 22-24 April 2026 p.61-62
Abstract
Today, the vast majority of more than half a million cuneiform inscriptions unearthed across the Middle East are housed in museums and collections in Europe and North America. Their study and publication is confined to books, journals, and electronic resources rendered in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Even the rapidly growing ecosystem of online catalogues and research platforms dedicated to the digital documentation and curation of cuneiform inscriptions remain exclusive to the priorities and needs of scholars and research institutions of the West. Needles to say, this situation significantly inhibits researchers and general audiences in the Arab-speaking world from accessing and exploring a most essential part of their... (More)
Today, the vast majority of more than half a million cuneiform inscriptions unearthed across the Middle East are housed in museums and collections in Europe and North America. Their study and publication is confined to books, journals, and electronic resources rendered in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Even the rapidly growing ecosystem of online catalogues and research platforms dedicated to the digital documentation and curation of cuneiform inscriptions remain exclusive to the priorities and needs of scholars and research institutions of the West. Needles to say, this situation significantly inhibits researchers and general audiences in the Arab-speaking world from accessing and exploring a most essential part of their own national heritage. The present talk presents the results of Access to Cuneiform Texts (CDLI-ACT), an initiative aiming to translate the database and webpages of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (https://cdli.earth) into Arabic. Forming a first open-access, open-source, community-based digital platform of cuneiform in Arabic, outputs include curated vocabularies for controlled metadata and a fully translated interface, tested in practice through workshops held at universities in Iraq in January 2026. This resource will enable Arabic language users with limited or no proficiency in English to freely search, explore, download, and reuse data from the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative for research, teaching, and communication purposes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
keywords
cuneiform, open access, Arabic, colonialism
pages
2 pages
conference name
British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology Annual Conference, UCL London, 22-24 April 2026
conference location
London, United Kingdom
conference dates
2026-04-22 - 2026-04-24
project
Access to Cuneiform Texts
Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
Echoes of History: Analysis and Decipherment of Historical Writings
Iraqi Heritage Collections Care and Digital Stewardship Network: Cuneiform Editions and Digital Publication Pilot
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3d41c477-4c42-4d25-8b9c-d01b02e9f9f6
date added to LUP
2026-02-10 10:27:15
date last changed
2026-06-03 03:31:35
@misc{3d41c477-4c42-4d25-8b9c-d01b02e9f9f6,
  abstract     = {{Today, the vast majority of more than half a million cuneiform inscriptions unearthed across the Middle East are housed in museums and collections in Europe and North America. Their study and publication is confined to books, journals, and electronic resources rendered in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Even the rapidly growing ecosystem of online catalogues and research platforms dedicated to the digital documentation and curation of cuneiform inscriptions remain exclusive to the priorities and needs of scholars and research institutions of the West. Needles to say, this situation significantly inhibits researchers and general audiences in the Arab-speaking world from accessing and exploring a most essential part of their own national heritage. The present talk presents the results of Access to Cuneiform Texts (CDLI-ACT), an initiative aiming to translate the database and webpages of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (https://cdli.earth) into Arabic. Forming a first open-access, open-source, community-based digital platform of cuneiform in Arabic, outputs include curated vocabularies for controlled metadata and a fully translated interface, tested in practice through workshops held at universities in Iraq in January 2026. This resource will enable Arabic language users with limited or no proficiency in English to freely search, explore, download, and reuse data from the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative for research, teaching, and communication purposes.}},
  author       = {{Rattenborg, Rune and Aqil Abid, Haider and Pagé-Perron, Émilie and Jotheri, Jaafar}},
  keywords     = {{cuneiform; open access; Arabic; colonialism}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  pages        = {{61--62}},
  title        = {{Digital Heritage Repatriation : The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative in Arabic}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/250672003/BANEA_2026.pdf}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}