Our work on this initiative began as a simple comparative exercise in the course of a
NINO Incoming Mobility Grant, setting some of the earliest artifacts recovered from ancient Carthage (now held at the
RMO in Leiden) alongside finds from the excavations of L. E. Stager (now held at the
HMANE in Cambridge MA). On the one hand, this comparative exercise follows upon a chapter connected to the exhibition
Carthago (
Garnand 2022); on the other, it expands upon previous analyses of
RMO urns and their contents (
Briese & Docter 1995;
Docter et al. 2002). We have also used an
ASOR Dar Ben Gacem grant to make proof-of-concept replicas of stelae and cippi in the open-air museum at the Rue Hannibal (
replica) and to make a 3D model of the
propriété Regulus-Salammbô sector of the precinct (
draft scale model | maps | plans). The initiative continues with the support of
NINO and the
Faculty of Archeology at Leiden University.
The main goal of our mobility grant was to digitize drawings and images of artifacts (
stelae and
urns) using methods we have developed for the
ASOR Punic Project publications. Traditional 2D images of ceramics follow set conventions, drawn and inked at full scale (1:1) in preparation for publication at reduced scale (1:5). We have converted our scanned inkings (raster) to digital, scalable line drawings (vector). In this latter effort, Sophie Davidson (St. Andrews) made drawings in anticipation of creating scalable vector images for comparison (e.g.
G1951/2.1-/2.10).
Our current initiative also builds upon fabric analysis of ceramics from the Stager excavations undertaken by Dennis Braekmans (
ULeiden). For that purpose we had taken some eighty samples for destructive analysis, both for thin section microscopy and for spectroscopy (ICP-OES), as well as for non-destructive X-ray fluorescence (XRF). We are at present analyzing Punic ceramics in the
RMO storerooms in order to assess the utility and reliability of XRF analysis alone (non-destructive with portable equipment) as a means for distinguishing characteristics of the varied indigenous North African clay sources as well as exogenous sources of imports.
Our primary purpose in creating 3D digital images involves preparations for a
2025-2028 ehibition dedicated to the 100ᵗʰ anniversary (
UMichigan-Kelsey) and 50ᵗʰ anniversary (
UChicago-Stager) of American excavations in the precinct of Tinnit and Ba‘l. Eventually artifacts will be repatriated to Tunisia to be installed at the Musée national de Carthage. After scanning stelae extracted from the sector (now in Tunisian storage magasins), we can use site plans, field notes, and annotated photgraphs from the Kelsey archives to reinstall them with precision into an accurate 3D printed scale model.
The appropriation of stone stela for display and study in European museums was augmented with plaster casts and squeezes shared between them. The production of 3D replicas continues this tradition and will foster the study of Phoencian-Punic inscriptions. In these efforts we have had the support of Imed ben Jerbania and Ahmed Ferjaoui (
INP-Tunisie), who must authorize any digital reproduction. These anniversaries have inspired our proof-of-concept 3D scanning program, which will produce models for display and for academic study, avoiding the costs of transport and insurance of the artifacts themselves. This new sort of collection exchange may ideally open up the study of Phoenician inscriptions (in collaboration with the
CIP) and may introduce these artifacts to a broader audience. See our current work in progress on the
Digital Phoenician-Punic Corpus (
DPPC).
In 1817, J. E. Humbert initiated the collection of Punic inscriptions by European diplomats when found certain stelae dedicated to Tinnit and Ba‘l and donated them to the
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden (
RMO H1-H4bis), where they formed the kernel of the museum's collection of antiquities (
Halbertsma 1995). Around 1832, another inscription made its way to Copenhagen (
CF*6), through the initiative of C. T. Falbe; another was found in the Piraeus (
CF*8); and a related Latin inscription was taken to the Kunstsammlungen Dresden (
KD, image at left). Unfortunately, these early collectors paid little heed to stratigraphic context; fortunately, they called attention to Phoenician language and culture. Although such antiquarian pursuit of artifacts led to rivalry on the ground in Tunisia, it also fostered institituional collaboration through an early type of “collection exchange” of plaster casts (
CF*4-CF*7, and
KD, see
Halbertsma 2003). This exchange offered institutions a common yet varied repertoire of genres, letter forms and iconography across a broad chronological range. Such casts and squeezes allowed for hands-on study at 1:1 scale for the artifacts themselves and at a global scale, increasing access for institutions across Europe and the US.
Our project brings such modeling of artifacts full circle—only recently did we discover that an early kernel of the HMANE collection itself was a set of
plaster casts of Punic stelae acquired from the RMO in 1891. In the last century, the study of shared casts and squeezes fell out of favor, due less to the detrimental effects delicate surfaces when
making molds for casting replicas or
brushing squeezes into inscriptions, more to the valorization of studying authentic, original artifacts. Our 3-D scanning, undertaken by Monica Huisman (
ULeiden) in consultation with Loes Opgenhaffen and Maarten Sepers (
Saxion), has required no contact with the artifacts themselves and enables accessible reproduction, both digital (for on-line research) and physical (for in-person study). The faculty at Saxion has been at the forefront of testing new methods, theories, and practices for
modeling sites and artifacts, and the HMANE has been a pioneer in creating digital
models; this project continues their innovations and follows their example, as well as reviving the tradition of academic collection exchange.
