DEMCC - The First Online Cuneiform Texts Database in China

Description

Abstract

DEMCC, the abbreviation of Database of Early Mesopotamian Cuneiform Contracts, is not only the first online database of Early Mesopotamian cuneiform contracts in China, but also the first online cuneiform texts database in China so far, which is the sub-project of the Key Project on Philosophy and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 23JZD040). DEMCC aims to establish an integrated and comprehensive digital humanities platform that integrates data collection, text mining, multi-label classification, multimodal data association display, multi-source data fusion, and visualization capabilities for the future. Its users or beneficiaries cover Assyriologists and scholars in law history and related disciplines. Accompanied by transliterations and translations in both English and Chinese, the cuneiform texts, primarily in Sumerian with some Akkadian, are exclusively contracts as well as court records (di-til-la) dating among three periods, Old Sumerian (Uruk, Fara, Pre-sargonic or Early Dynasty), Old Akkadian (Sargonic) and Neo-Sumerian (Ur III). In early Mesopotamia, there are mainly two types of contracts, sale and loan contract, as well as court records (di-til-la) exclusively in Ur III period, which objects involve real estate (land, house, orchard, etc.) and chattel (slave/person, barley, silver, etc.), as well as labor force. This database not only provides with transliterations and bilingual translations (English and Chinese), but also contains many specific and specialized fields, such as contracts’ type, formule, terminology, object and amount, both parties (seller/buyer in sale, lender/borrower in loan), witness, oath, other related information, and general information like one text’s publication, period, provenience, collection, and corresponding CDLI number. The database system architecture currently under development leverages FileMaker Pro, a reputable database management system renowned for its technical stability. This platform facilitates data fusion and association with other relational databases, including MySQL and Oracle, thereby laying a solid foundation for subsequent semantic association representation, knowledge integration with third-party datasets like CDLI, and ensuring semantic interoperability. This poster intends to comprehensively introduce the overarching objectives, technical architecture, data flow model, and diverse functional modules of the DEMCC database. Additionally, it will provide a concise overview of the various technical solutions proposed for full-stack development, ensuring a holistic understanding of the platform’s capabilities and potential. The users can find every information and data through searching different fields. DEMCC plans to be online and usable in 2026 for free, with a hyperlink to CDLI.