Articles by Elena Rova

In order to test the ability of textual coding to depict the features of structured images, a corpus of images of Near-Eastern seals of the late IVth millennium BC was studied through different exploratory analysis techniques. Two different coding systems were considered: the classical presence/absence coding of iconographical elements present in the images and a new textual coding, based on a formalised text describing the image. These were submitted to Multiple and Textual Correspondence Analyses. The textual analyses were performed according to two different coding systems, and several choices of the items involved. The results of the different analyses are discussed and compared here. In particular, textual analysis proved effective in substituting the classical coding in the description of the iconographic elements appearing in the images. In addition, it allowed us to broaden the investigation to include aspects of the images (occurrence of fixed sub-patterns and composition) which are beyond the capacities of classical coding. The ability of textual coding to select particular elements, and/or element sequences, to be taken into account in the analyses, was also considered an interesting feature for fine-tuning the analyses to the particular characters of specific corpora. Thus, the use of a formalised text as an intermediate between images and analysis tools proved to be a method worth using, in spite of the special care needed, and some still unsolved difficulties.

In order to analyse a corpus of 963 Near-Eastern Uruk/Jemdet Nasr period sealings, three levels of image structure were identified, as being a) the presence of iconographic elements, b) the presence of subpattern, i.e. small images contributing as a whole to the total image, and c) the general image pattern, considered only under the syntactical point of view. This paper is based on second level analyses, performed through textual exploratory analysis of a formalized text describing the sealings images. Two different textual correspondence analyses were performed: the first on textual forms and the second on repeated segments, i.e. repeated sequences of forms considered as a whole. In the paper, the quality of results is discussed, in particular comparing them to classical techniques based on manual coding and to a previous coding. In this case, a better distinction of different sealings groups resulted from forms analysis, whereas the one on repeated segments, although repeating the forms analysis general pattern, seems less satisfactory. Both results suggest to modify the automatic procedures used so far, in order to limit attention to presence/absence of forms on one side and to select manually the repeated segments actually corresponding to a subpattern, rather than considering all of them.

A corpus of 963 images belonging to Near-Eastern seals of the Uruk/Jamdet Nasr period (late fourth Millennium BC) was analysed and classified through multivariate analysis techniques, applied on both presence/absence of iconographical elements and a text describing each image. Methods and results are discussed and compared. The presence/absence analysis is the most effective in dividing the corpus into different groups of images (scenes with common animals, “special” animals such as hybrids, war, religious, complex handicraft and schematic handicraft scenes). The results of textual analysis are similar in many respects, though here common features between different groups of seals are underscored. Textual analysis also seems a promising approach for the study of syntactical patterning of the seal images. The study of repeated segments (i.e. fixed sequences of lexical forms occurring in different texts) proved the existence of fixed sun-patterns, consisting of two or more elements and attitudes, which occur in images belonging both to the same group of seals and to different ones. Fixed sun-patterns tend, however, to occur more frequently on images characterized by a simple and repetitive structure, whereas they are only rarely used in the most complex seals. Finally, results of both analyses effectively proved that the iconography of the seals is related to their origin and function. Religious scenes and representations of hybrids, snakes, birds and lions generally occur on seals or sealings found in temple contexts, often on sealings fastening movable containers or storeroom doors; war scenes are apparently found only in urban centres. Complex handicraft scenes tend to be found in storeroom or in domestic contexts, often on “clay balls” (sort of primitive administrative documents). Finally, schematic images generally occur in domestic, non-official context. Schematic seals were apparently rarely used for sealing; most of their images derive from original seals and not from impressions. On the other hand, religious scenes seem especially typical of southern Mesopotamia, complex handicraft scenes of Iran and Syria, whereas identical schematic seals are found in all geographical areas. Further developments of the methods tested on the seal corpus (firstly through a deeper interaction with repeated segments analysis; secondly through development of methods for the analysis of the general image composition and finally through an integrated approach considering all aspects together) may lead to interesting results for the study not only of the seals themselves, but in general of structured images of different kinds.