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The objective of this work is to show the application of a Deep Learning algorithm able to operate the segmentation of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs present in an image, with the ambition to be as versatile as possible despite the variability of the image source. The problem is quite complex, the main obstacles being the considerable amount of different classes of existing hieroglyphs, the differences related to the hand of the scribe as well as the great differences among the various supports, such as papyri, stone or wood, where they are written. Furthermore, as in all archaeological finds, damage to the supports are frequent, with the consequence that hieroglyphs can be partially corrupted. In order to face this challenging problem, we leverage on the well-known Detectron2 platform, developed by the Facebook AI Research Group, focusing on the Mask R-CNN architecture to perform segmentation of image instances. Likewise, for several machine learning studies, one of the hardest challenges is the creation of a suitable dataset. In this paper, we will describe a hieroglyph dataset that has been created for the purpose of segmentation, highlighting its pros and cons, and the impact of different hyperparameters on the final results. Tests on the segmentation of images taken from public databases will also be presented and discussed along with the limitations of our study.

En este artículo, exploraremos las interacciones mayas con el altiplano central de México a través de la escritura. No serán abordados aquí los textos jeroglíficos mayas que arrojan informaciones sobre las relaciones entre Teotihuacán y los mayas. En cambio, consideraremos los pocos textos jeroglíficos mayas que se han encontrado en el altiplano central con la intención de determinar no sólo lo que transmiten y su datación, sino también la información que proporcionan sobre las interacciones culturales que condujeron a su producción. Primero analizaremos los textos jeroglíficos mayas encontrados en Teotihuacán durante el periodo Clásico (c. 400-550 d.C.). Estas interacciones iniciales allanaron el camino a contactos similares en periodos posteriores, como lo atestiguan los textos mayas encontrados en Cacaxtla y Xochitécatl que datan del periodo Epiclásico (c. 680-890 d.C.) y otro también encontrado en contextos epiclásicos en Tula (c. 800-900 d.C.). Presentaremos cada uno de estos ejemplos, empezando por Teotihuacán y terminando con Tula, antes de concluir sobre lo que estos textos arrojan sobre sus productores, su audiencia y las modalidades de interacción culturales que señalan. Cet article étudie les interactions entre les sociétés mayas et le haut plateau central mexicain par le biais de l’écriture. Les textes hiéroglyphiques mayas qui fournissent des informations sur les relations entre Teotihuacan et les Mayas ne sont pas abordés ici. En revanche, nous nous penchons sur les quelques textes hiéroglyphiques mayas découverts sur le haut plateau central afin de déterminer non seulement ce qu’ils véhiculent et leur datation, mais aussi les informations qu’ils fournissent sur les interactions culturelles qui ont conduit à leur production. Nous analysons d’abord les textes hiéroglyphiques mayas retrouvés à Teotihuacan pendant la période classique (vers 400-550 apr. J.-C.). Ces premières interactions ont ouvert la voie à des contacts similaires au cours des périodes ultérieures, comme en témoignent les textes mayas trouvés à Cacaxtla et Xochitécatl qui datent de l’Épiclassique (vers 680-890 apr. J.-C.) et un autre texte retrouvé dans des contextes épiclassiques à Tula (vers 800-900 apr. J.-C.). Nous présentons chacun de ces exemples, en commençant par Teotihuacan et en terminant par Tula, avant de conclure sur ce que ces textes nous apprennent sur leurs producteurs, leurs destinataires et les modes d’interaction culturelle qu’ils illustrent. This article explores Maya interactions with the central Mexican highlands as attested through writing. We do not delve into Maya hieroglyphic texts for the light that these shed on Teotihuacan-Maya relations. Instead, we consider the few Maya hieroglyphic texts that have been found in the central Mexican highlands to determine not only what these texts convey and when these date to, but also what information these shed on the cultural interactions that led to their production. We first examine the Maya glyphic texts found at Teotihuacan that date to the Classic period (AD 400-550). These initial interactions paved the way to similar contacts in later periods, as attested by the Maya texts found at Cacaxtla and Xochitecatl that are dated to the Epiclassic (AD 680-890) and that likewise found in Epiclassic contexts at Tula (AD 800-900). We introduce each of these instances in turn, starting with Teotihuacan and ending with Tula, before concluding on what these texts have to say concerning the producers and consumers of these texts, and the modalities of cultural contacts that these embody.

Indigenous Graphic Communication Systems challenges the adequacy of Western academic views on what writing is and explores how they can be expanded by analyzing the sophisticated graphic communication systems found in Central Mesoamerica and Andean South America. By examining case studies from across the Americas, the authors pursue an enhanced understanding of Native American graphic communication systems and how the study of graphic expression can provide insight into ancient cultures and societies, expressed in indigenous words. Focusing on examples from Central Mexico and the Andes, the authors explore the overlap among writing, graphic expression, and orality in indigenous societies, inviting reevaluation of the Western notion that writing exists only to record language (the spoken chain of speech) as well as accepted beliefs of Western alphabetized societies about the accuracy, durability, and unambiguous nature of their own alphabetized texts. The volume also addresses the rapidly growing field of semasiography and relocates it more productively as one of several underlying operating principles in graphic communication systems. Indigenous Graphic Communication Systems reports new results and insights into the meaning of the rich and varied content of indigenous American graphic expression and culture as well as into the societies and cultures that produce them. It will be of great interest to Mesoamericanists, students, and scholars of anthropology, archaeology, art history, ancient writing systems, and comparative world history. The research for and publication of this book have been supported in part by the National Science Centre of Poland (decision no. NCN-KR-0011/122/13) and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Contributors: Angélica Baena Ramírez, Christiane Clados, Danièle Dehouve, Stanisław Iwaniszewski, Michel R. Oudijk, Katarzyna Szoblik, Loïc Vauzelle, Gordon Whittaker, Janusz Z. Wołoszyn, David Charles Wright-Carr

This work presents a novel strategy to decipher fragments of Egyptian cartouches identifying the hieroglyphs of which they are composed. A cartouche is a drawing, usually inside an oval, that encloses a group of hieroglyphs representing the name of a monarch. Aiming to identify these drawings, the proposed method is based on several techniques frequently used in computer vision and consists of three main stages: first, a picture of the cartouche is taken as input and its contour is localized. In the second stage, each hieroglyph is individually extracted and identified. Finally, the cartouche is interpreted: the sequence of the hieroglyphs is established according to a previously generated benchmark. This sequence corresponds to the name of the king. Although this method was initially conceived to deal with both high and low relief writing in stone, it can be also applied to painted hieroglyphs. This approach is not affected by variable lighting conditions, or the intensity and the completeness of the objects. This proposal has been tested on images obtained from the Abydos King List and other Egyptian monuments and archaeological excavations. The promising results give new possibilities to recognize hieroglyphs, opening a new way to decipher longer texts and inscriptions, being particularly useful in museums and Egyptian environments. Additionally, devices used for acquiring visual information from cartouches (i.e., smartphones), can be part of a navigation system for museums where users are located in indoor environments by means of the combination of WiFi Positioning Systems (WPS) and depth cameras, as unveiled at the end of the document.

In his On the Art of Building, Renaissance humanist Leon Battista Alberti wrote that the ancient Egyptians believed that alphabetical languages would one day all be lost, but the pictorial method of writing they used could be understood easily by intellectuals everywhere and far into the future. Amidst a renewed appreciation of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics found on obelisks in Italy and the discovery of Horapollo’s Hieroglyphica, which purported to translate the language, Renaissance humanists like Alberti developed an obsession with this ancient form of non-alphabetical writing. Additionally, a growing awareness of the lost language of their Etruscan ancestors further ignited an anxiety among Italian humanists that their own ideas might one day become unintelligible. As Egyptomania spread through the Italian peninsula, some saw an answer to their fears in the pictorial hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians, for they perceived, in Egyptian writing, the potential for a universal language. Thus, many created Renaissance hieroglyphs based on those of the Egyptians. This essay examines the successes and failures of these neo-hieroglyphs, which early modern humanists and artists created hoping that a language divorced from alphabetical text might better convey the memory of their names and contributions to posterity.

Searching for Chinese characters in large archives of handwritten documents using a single sample in a query is a so-called single recognition task. The total number of different characters in the archives of ancient Chinese handwritten texts is estimated at several tens of thousands, which creates substantial obstacles for machine-learning based methods due to complexity of constructing training datasets. This article proposes an effective method for recognizing and searching for characters based on a direct comparison of the form of the query character with the characters from the file. We proposed a method for constructing a hieroglyph model in the form of a planar geometric graph. A measure is proposed for assessing the similarity and difference of generally non-isomorphic geometric graphs of hieroglyphs by solving assignment problem and a recognition method based on this measure. Computational experiments with large databases of handwritten hieroglyphs confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed approach by achieving comparable results to deep-learning methods, while can be implemented with conventional modern computers without accelerators. In addition, the method is fully interpretable, which is important for understanding and adjusting the recognition process, as well as for further development of the proposed approach.

Many questions remain about the hieroglyphic stair dedicated in a.d. 642 by K'an II, the great king of Caracol. Constituent panels have been found at Caracol, Ucanal, Naranjo, and Xunantunich—archaeological sites spread between Guatemala and Belize. The most recently discovered Panels 3 and 4 at Xunantunich shed light on the tumultuous decades of the seventh century. Panel 4, which opened the hieroglyphic stair, makes a surprising statement from the outset, clarifying that Kanu'l political authority was irrevocably established at Calakmul. This bold statement serves as a synoptic précis for the entire narrative and explains why the deeds of K'an II are related, but only to the extent that these could be interwoven with the history of the Kanu'l. This makes the hieroglyphic stair such an important source, because it tracks the rulers of the Kanu'l dynasty from the vantage of a close ally. These monuments attest to the fissioning of the Kanu'l dynasty and its eventual restoration at Calakmul, from whence Classic Maya politics would be overseen for the remainder of the seventh century. In this article, we build on earlier studies and add our most recent observations and new readings based on renewed inspections of the existing panels.

Like their regal counterparts in societies around the globe, ancient Maya rulers departed this world with elaborate burial ceremonies and lavish grave goods, which often included ceramics, red pigments, earflares, stingray spines, jades, pearls, obsidian blades, and mosaics. Archaeological investigation of these burials, as well as the decipherment of inscriptions that record Maya rulers' funerary rites, have opened a fascinating window on how the ancient Maya envisaged the ruler's passage from the world of the living to the realm of the ancestors. Focusing on the Classic Period (AD 250-900), James Fitzsimmons examines and compares textual and archaeological evidence for rites of death and burial in the Maya lowlands, from which he creates models of royal Maya funerary behavior. Exploring ancient Maya attitudes toward death expressed at well-known sites such as Tikal, Guatemala, and Copan, Honduras, as well as less-explored archaeological locations, Fitzsimmons reconstructs royal mortuary rites and expands our understanding of key Maya concepts including the afterlife and ancestor veneration.

En este artículo, exploraremos las interacciones mayas con el altiplano central de México a través de la escritura. No serán abordados aquí los textos jeroglíficos mayas que arrojan informaciones sobre las relaciones entre Teotihuacán y los mayas. En cambio, consideraremos los pocos textos jeroglíficos mayas que se han encontrado en el altiplano central con la intención de determinar no sólo lo que transmiten y su datación, sino también la información que proporcionan sobre las interacciones culturales que condujeron a su producción. Primero analizaremos los textos jeroglíficos mayas encontrados en Teotihuacán durante el periodo Clásico (c. 400-550 d.C.). Estas interacciones iniciales allanaron el camino a contactos similares en periodos posteriores, como lo atestiguan los textos mayas encontrados en Cacaxtla y Xochitécatl que datan del periodo Epiclásico (c. 680-890 d.C.) y otro también encontrado en contextos epiclásicos en Tula (c. 800-900 d.C.). Presentaremos cada uno de estos ejemplos, empezando por Teotihuacán y terminando con Tula, antes de concluir sobre lo que estos textos arrojan sobre sus productores, su audiencia y las modalidades de interacción culturales que señalan. Cet article étudie les interactions entre les sociétés mayas et le haut plateau central mexicain par le biais de l'écriture. Les textes hiéroglyphiques mayas qui fournissent des informations sur les relations entre Teotihuacan et les Mayas ne sont pas abordés ici. En revanche, nous nous penchons sur les quelques textes hiéroglyphiques mayas découverts sur le haut plateau central afin de déterminer non seulement ce qu'ils véhiculent et leur datation, mais aussi les informations qu'ils fournissent sur les interactions culturelles qui ont conduit à leur production. Nous analysons d'abord les textes hiéroglyphiques mayas retrouvés à Teotihuacan pendant la période classique (vers 400-550 apr. J.-C.). Ces premières interactions ont ouvert la voie à des contacts similaires au cours des périodes ultérieures, comme en témoignent les textes mayas trouvés à Cacaxtla et Xochitécatl qui datent de l'Épiclassique (vers 680-890 apr. J.-C.) et un autre texte retrouvé dans des contextes épiclassiques à Tula (vers 800-900 apr. J.-C.). Nous présentons chacun de ces exemples, en commençant par Teotihuacan et en terminant par Tula, avant de conclure sur ce que ces textes nous apprennent sur leurs producteurs, leurs destinataires et les modes d'interaction culturelle qu'ils illustrent. This article explores Maya interactions with the central Mexican highlands as attested through writing. We do not delve into Maya hieroglyphic texts for the light that these shed on Teotihuacan-Maya relations. Instead, we consider the few Maya hieroglyphic texts that have been found in the central Mexican highlands to determine not only what these texts convey and when these date to, but also what information these shed on the cultural interactions that led to their production. We first examine the Maya glyphic texts found at Teotihuacan that date to the Classic period (AD 400-550). These initial interactions paved the way to similar contacts in later periods, as attested by the Maya texts found at Cacaxtla and Xochitecatl that are dated to the Epiclassic (AD 680-890) and that likewise found in Epiclassic contexts at Tula (AD 800-900). We introduce each of these instances in turn, starting with Teotihuacan and ending with Tula, before concluding on what these texts have to say concerning the producers and consumers of these texts, and the modalities of cultural contacts that these embody.