Collaborative Annotation and Computational Analysis of Hieratic

Abstract

We introduce a new open-source web application for the collaborative annotation and study of hieratic texts, in the form of facsimiles and/or photographs. Functionality includes the automatic classification of occurrences of hieratic signs in Unicode, aided by image processing and optical character recognition techniques. Relying on various forms of dimensionality reduction, the tool also allows visualization of differences in sign shapes between texts, periods, genres, and geographical areas. This is motivated by recent work that demonstrated the value of dimensionality reduction for such purposes as identifying scribal hands. The interactive user interface can also be used for teaching students to read hieratic.