Geography Working Group
Rune Rattenborg, Sebastian Borkowski Jamie Novotny, Manuel Molina, Susanne Rutishauser
The location entity defines any discrete, physical location of an archaeological nature, generally corresponding to the provenience entity typically included in digital catalogues in cuneiform studies, and the archaeological feature constituting a site in an archaeological gazetteer. For a typical example of location entities as employed in digital catalogues in cuneiform studies, see the documentation of the
The extended conceptual meaning of this entity as employed here is derived in large part from the location entity type of the Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places repository, where it need not refer solely to a known archaeological provenience of a cuneiform inscription, but indeed to any known physical location. A location may correspond to the provenience of a cuneiform inscription, or a historical place related to one or more names found in one or several cuneiform inscriptions, or an archaeological feature otherwise included in a given data collection, for example on the basis of historical contemporaneity.
As a geographical entity, a location record should always include a geographical coordinate utilising the WGS84 coordinate reference system. A geographical coordinate includes longitude (x) and latitude (y), stored as decimal degrees. A geographical coordinate should always be accompanied by a definition of observational certainty made according to a known ordinal value set. For a location, observational certainty should reflect the geographical precision of the geographical coordinate, not the certainty of association between the location and an ancient place.
| name | description |
|---|---|
| longitude | Longitude (x) of the location geographical coordinate in decimal degrees |
| latitude | Latitude (y) of the location geographical coordinate in decimal degrees |
| certainty | Degree of geographical precision of the location geographical coordinate |
| wikidata | Identifier of the corresponding entity record in WikiData |
Linking the location record to a corresponding wikidata identifier will also establish a link to all associated identifiers included by WikiData. As such, a WikiData identifier will usually link to corresponding identifiers from GeoNames, OpenStreetMap,
| name | description |
|---|---|
| geonames_id | Link to the corresponding record in GeoNames |
| osm_id | Link to corresponding record in OpenstreetMap |
| osm_type | Type of geometry associated with osm_id |
| pleiades_id | Link to corresponding record in Pleiades |
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For an updated index of archaeological locations where cuneiform texts have been found, see the most recent version of the Cuneiform Inscriptions Geographical Site Index (CIGS) and the description of the index given in Rattenborg et al. 2021
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For open access indices of archaeological locations in the Middle East, see the most recent version of the ANE Site Placemarks for Google Earth and the description of the index given in Pedersén 2012