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A rock art panel from the site of el-Hosh featuring two boats along with human depictions, including one with royal regalia, alongside a presumed captor with a Nubian captive, adds a further important example of early royal iconography in Egyptian rock art. This early royal representation stands alongside the well-known panels from Nag el-Hamdulab and a depiction from the Wadi Mahamid in Elkab as the earliest certain depictions of kingship in the rock art medium. The three examples are roughly contemporaneous, with the el-Hosh panel sharing many features with the Nag el-Hamdulab figures. Despite the similarity we see in the smaller el-Hosh panel we note the evidence that its production was of a less official nature. The display of a presumed captive and beheaded Nubian appears to reflect local conflict in the region during the period of production. ispartof: Archeo-Nil vol:32 pages:25-25 status: published

The DOI for all versions of this document (.zip) is10.5281/zenodo.3607301 Difference between version 1.1.0 (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4548090) & version 1.1.1 Typos and orthography Adding technical information to the filters section. Renumbering figures after adding diagram to filters section This document was created to provide an insight in and review on the technical infrastructure in use for the Narrow Band Multi-Spectral Imaging (NBMSI) system of the 3Pi Project (Book Heritage Lab, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven), operated in the Imaging Lab of the KU Leuven Libraries. At KU Leuven this narrow band multi-spectral imaging infrastructure has been obtained and is being operated within the framework of this 3Pi Project (Diagnosis of Papyrus-Paper-Parchment manuscripts through advanced Imaging, AKUL/17/001, FWO: I009918N, Mid-scale Research Infrastructure). This NBMSI system was created by R.B. Toth and Associates LLC, in association with Equipose Imaging LLC and Phase One A/S and their local partners; the acquisition software of the system is Spectral XV. The technical infrastructure acquired by the 3Pi Project is part of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. Promotor-spokesman is prof. dr. Johan Leemans; coordinator is prof. dr. Lieve Watteeuw (Head Book Heritage Lab); implementation of the NBMSI system by Bruno Vandermeulen (Head Imaging Lab) & Hendrik Hameeuw (Advanced Imaging, Imaging Lab). The NBMSI system at KU Leuven consists of: Phase one XF IQ4150MP AchromaticCamera System (light sensor) Schneider Kreuznach 120mm LS f/4.0 Macro (lens) Filter wheel with band pass and long pass filters 2 Eureka light panels TX Transmitting Module Kaiser rePRO RSP (copystand) Spectral XV software

Heritage artefacts and collections are crossroads where historical context, materiality, content and technology join. In the field of heritage science, scholars deploy methodologies from the humanities and applied sciences to increase the understanding of heritage artefacts and collections through the use of advanced technology and infrastructure. Within VIEW, KU Leuven Core Facility for Heritage Science and Digitisation Technologies, several labs have joined their expertise and infrastructure. VIEW deploys digitisation technologies and techniques such as advanced imaging, high-end digitisation and data extraction to create rich datasets, provide new insights and facilitate cutting edge research of documentary heritage, heritage collections and heritage materials in a nondestructive way. The focused use of such infrastructure and technology represents an important accelerator in conservation science projects for documents on papyrus, parchment and paper.

Interactive Pixel Based file formats have been produced over the course of the last two decades by many stakeholders active in the Heritage sector. It is a global story. Its use has facilitated research and dissemination strategies for vast numbers of artefacts, conservation interactions and scientific studies. The technology has been explored and elaborated via varying technical strategies; each one of them delivering specific results with visual benefits and paths for computational research. This situation is also reflected in the many naming conventions used for this technology: Relightable Images, Multi-Light Image Collections, Reflectance Transformation Imaging, Multi-Light Images, Multi-Light Reflectance, … . It has been the aim of the pixel+ project to bring the existing spectrum of these technologies closer together, by A. creating a universal web interface for its most popular processed output formats (objective 1), B. finding solutions to store and disseminate these type of multi-layered datasets in a new open, web optimize file format (objective 2), C. providing a conversion tool allowing stakeholders to optimize their existing datasets into the new file format (objective 2). Throughout the pixel+ project the general collective term for the targeted technology is Single Camera Multi-Light (SCML), the newly proposed file format: .scml. SCML techniques have been used extensively to study objects under varying light conditions. Intuitively, we humans perform this technique to study local surface detail, the shape of an object or reflectance properties, e.g. by using a flash light at raking angles to reveal the tiny surface details. These visual cues that change under varying light conditions are captured with cameras and serve as input for various algorithms that model this light dependent pixel intensity (i.e. formulate the final pixel color as a function of the light direction) or even learn surface and material properties from these cues. Two major SCML approaches lay in the scope of the pixel+ project. On the one hand the Belgian system of the Portable Light Dome (PLD) and on the other hand the US solution with Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI); sometimes also known as Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM), piloted by Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI, San Francisco). The latter includes the axe expanded by mainly ISTI/CNR researchers in Italy. Both approaches have proven their added value over the last 20 years for the visual documenting, study and multi-layered digital preservation of heritage objects. In the meantime countless past and ongoing research and imaging projects, initiated and funded all over the world, illustrate this clearly. For all these projects and their outcomes pixel+ has provided new solutions. Both platforms have been developed by separate research groups, with a different focus. This resulted in dissimilar interactive pixel based file formats, making it challenging to interchange the information processed and stored in their respective output datasets. Therefore, the pixel+ project aimed to merge the technologies of both approaches into a single consultation platform that will be capable of displaying all existing interactive pixel based file formats with their respective viewing modes and metadata. This viewer has the ability to illuminate the virtual model of the heritage object and consult the processed datasets with visual styles developed within the research spheres of both platforms. Moreover, as both methods are alike in terms of required input and processed output, pixel+ focusses on other types of integration, resulting in new additional visual styles for processed data, as well as a novel reprocessing pipeline for existing source image sets. Because RTI and PLD are still relatively young technologies, knowledge of their technicalities and wide range of potential benefits is still sub-par. A new dissemination website has been launched which explains these technologies and their derivatives. It contains best practices and use cases, and shares community updates. As it's in the interest of the whole community, the website doesn’t shy away from discussing other future computational photography techniques to further elaborate viewing, processing and/or digital preserving interactive pixel based file formats. The source codes of both the pixel+ viewer and this companion website are on GitHub. ispartof: BRAIN-be Pioneer Projects pages:1-51 status: Published online

Developments over the last decennium in the field of nondestructive art technical research have provided new possibilities for examining the current condition of the Codex Eyckensis and exploring the materials used by the illuminator and scribe. By comparing and combining the results of macro x-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF) and Raman spectroscopy analysis with the images taken by multispectral microdome (MSLD) (photometric stereo), the composition of the parchment, ink, and paint layers could be characterized and visualized. ispartof: ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Conference Preprints, Beijing, 17–21 May 2021 ispartof: Transcending Boundaries: Integrated Approaches to Conservation. location:Beijng date:17 May - 21 May 2021 status: published

The DOI for all version of this standard is10.5281/zenodo.3607363 Reasons for update from version 1 (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3607364): ● All NBMSI metadata entries received an unique ID. ● Extra insight into the management and handling of the metadata have been added. ● The update provides better tools to allow machine readability of the documented metadata. ● Examples of implementation strings into the EXIF Image Description field. ● Small clarifications and corrections. A. The objective of the KU Leuven NBMSI Metadata Standard, developed within the framework of the 3Pi project,is to define the required or relevant metadata elements and their parameters for image captures created with a photographic Narrow Band Multi-Spectral Imaging (NBMSI) technology. The determined and selected metadata fields provide information necessary to outline the creation environment and technical infrastructure used in the production of the images. These are not standard included in the basic EXIF or IPTC fields embedded in the image derived from the camera system itself. As such this is metadata pertaining to the image dataset and not to the object being imaged. The KU Leuven NBMSI Metadata Standard is intended to provide definitions and conventions, allowing users to access documentation for images stemming from a common set of terminology. This will therefore provide a level of consistency for the metadata information. Therefore, the primary functions of this document are: Providing users of the images with information about the creation environment of narrow band multi-spectral images. Defining standard metadata fields that can be embedded to a multitude of images for consistency and clarity. Outlining the values of these standardized metadata fields; how to measure and enter them. Allowing independent and long-term interpretation of the images. B. The scope of this standard is in the first place aimed at providing coverage to any objects that may be imaged by the narrow band multi-spectral imaging infrastructure deployed by the Imaging Lab at KU Leuven Libraries. This includes the collection held by the University Libraries, as well as collections brought in by external institutions or researchers. Secondly, the standard has also been constructed in the interest of having usability for other institutions, using similar narrow band multi-spectral imaging technology, inside or outside of KU Leuven. C. Related Standards: This standard was developed with direct reference to the Archimedes Palimpsest Metadata Standard. The Archimedes Palimpsest Metadata Standard originally draws from such standards including: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Element Set (ISO Standard 15836) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Data (FGDS-STD-001-1998) Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) &nbsp

Difference between version 1.0 (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3675269) & version 1.1 Typos and orthography. Finetuning of capture settings of some captures in KULBMSS. Expanding the KULBMSS with recordings made with the TX module (NB backlight). Adding info and documentation on the use of the TX module (NB backlight) This document was created to provide an insight on the basic acquisition sequence applied with the Narrow Band Multi-Spectral Imaging (NBMSI) system used at the KU Leuven (for the document on that systems’ hardware, see https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3607302). It also provides information on the automated file naming (nomenclature) of the captures with that NBMSI system when the Spectral XV software interface for capture and (pre-)processing is used. At KU Leuven this NBMSI infrastructure has been obtained and is being operated within the framework of this 3Pi Project (Diagnosis of Papyrus-Paper-Parchment manuscripts through advanced Imaging, AKUL/17/001, FWO: I009918N). This NBMSI system was created by R.B. Toth and Associates LLC, in association with Equipose Imaging LLC and Phase One A/S and their local partners; the acquisition software of the system is Spectral XV.

Egyptologists have paid much attention to inscribed administrative seals and their impressions. By contrast, the so-called figure seals, which render no or hardly any text, but instead use icons and signs inspired on hieroglyphs which however yield no coherent sense, have received far less attention. Usually this material is related to the lower strata of society. According to current interpretations, it is rooted in the Egyptian culture of the later Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period. The phenomenon would be a corollary of the decreasing prominence of central state authority in this era. Proceeding from a number of recent early Old Kingdom finds from al-Shaykh Saʽīd/Wādī Zabaydā, the present article argues that a) figure seals were continually in use from the late Predynastic until the late Old Kingdom and b) different from what is commonly assumed, stamp seals were in existence long before the late Old Kingdom. The article challenges the relationship between these object categories and developments specifically in late Old Kingdom Egypt. ispartof: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde vol:145 issue:2 pages:187-204 status: published

ispartof: Ma’allanate, Archives d’un centre provincial de l’Empire Assyrien pages:221-229 ispartof: Akkadica Supplementum vol:XIII pages:221-229 status: published

entire PDF of WAK 95

The Egyptian collection of the RMAH comprises about one hundred execration figurines made of unbaked clay, bearing curses written in hieratic script (a cursive writing system related to hieroglyphs) and dating to the Middle Kingdom (c. 1850 BC). These represent captured (foreign) enemies and were buried ritually in order to symbolically neutralise foreign and domestic enemies and general threats. Nearly 90 years after their discovery, the red and black pigments used to inscribe these four millennia old objects are now faded or damaged. The Execration texts on these figurines are regarded as one of the most renowned collections of written sources for ancient Near Eastern studies, Egyptian history and Biblical studies for the early 2nd millennium BCE. When it comes to documenting every characteristic of an object in a highly detailed way, clay artefacts inscribed with ink and other pigments, such as the aforementioned figurines, pose a particular challenge. These three-dimensional media with curved surfaces hold traces of writing that, in some cases, have faded or have disappeared completely. The study of these objects is generally hampered by their poor state of conservation, any handling can result in a considerable loss of material (and therefore also valuable information). The EES project aimed to develop new imaging techniques (using interactive 2D, 3D and multispectral images) that can improve the legibility of faded inscriptions and enhance the decorations on clay objects. Combining 3D digitisation and multispectral imaging in a userfriendly and transportable system, that is also manageable by curators, conservators, researchers and other stakeholders in the museum, is a truly pioneering project. It must facilitate the management of recorded collections and offer numerous possibilities for historical and art-technical studies on these objects, while the future handling is limited to a minimum, thus ensuring their sustainability. nrpages: 66 status: published

Catalogue of a collection of some one hundred ninety billon, copper and lead coins with virtual illus¬trations created by the PLD (Portable Light Dome) system of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels. Some paragraphs comment the most significant coins of this collection compared to the corpus known through recent publications. Several observations are devoted to additional symbols, often unpublished, to the mintnames which appear on seventy coins and to the lead coinage which is repres¬ented by over twenty coins., Catalogue d’une collection de quelque cent quatre-vingt dix monnaies de billon, de cuivre et de plomb accompagné d’images virtuelles réalisées par le système PLD (Portable Light Dome) des Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire à Bruxelles (MRAH). Un commentaire sur les monnaies les plus marquantes de cette collection y est donné par rapport au corpus connu à travers des publications récentes. À cela s’ajoutent quelques paragraphes consacrés aux symboles additionnels, souvent inédits, aux ateliers monétaires notés sur soixante-dix monnaies et au monnayage de plomb qui est représenté par une bonne vingtaine d’exemplaires.

The representations of the Sasanian coins published in “Une collection de monnaies sassanides de billon, de cuivre et de plomb” by Rika Gyselen & Malek Iradj Mochiri are all based on images made with the so-called Portable Light Dome (PLD) system (Willems et al. 2005; Hameeuw & Willems 2011; Hameeuw 2011), a multi-light/directional reflectance technique. With this method both sides of each coin have been imaged, A. to facilitate their study, B. to digitally safeguard them for curatorial purposes and C. to allow researchers to publish adequately those visualisations of the coin’s surface they selected in support to their study and findings. Figure 1 demonstrates how some different types of archaeological surfaces from the ancient Near East can be visualized with this system. ispartof: Sasanian Coins, Middle-Persian Etymology and the Tabarestan Archive pages:102-106 ispartof: Res Orientales vol:26 pages:102-106 status: published

When heritage objects are being transformed into digital representations, the loss of information is inevitable. The challenge lies in developing integrated systems able to minimize this loss and bring together as many different kinds of recordable characteristics as possible of one and the same object. This contribution presents an approach that combines the detection of colour, surface shape and the reflective characteristics of surfaces by using a selection of IR, Red, Green, Blue and UV light spectra and applying them on 3D models. A multispectral, multi-directional, portable and dome-shaped recording tool has been developed to this end. With the associated software, virtual relighting and enhancements can be applied in an interactive manner based on the principles of photometric stereo: this allows alternating in real time between computations with IR, R, G, B, and UV light spectra. Throughout the testing phases, this non-invasive registration and documentation technique has been applied to monitor and study a vast number of heritage objects, varying from 19th c. BCE Egyptian inscribed clay figurines to medieval illuminations. ispartof: pages:163-192 ispartof: Lights On … Cultural Heritage and Museums! pages:163-192 ispartof: Lights On … Cultural Heritage and Museums! location:Porto date:20 Jul - 22 Jul 2015 status: published

Each built heritage artifact possesses multiple types of information, varying from simple, factual aspects to more complex qualitative and tacit qualities and values like the architectural symbolism of a monument. This paper investigates how tangible interaction can enable the communication of qualitative information of built heritage to lay visitors. Through a comparative, field study in a real-world museum context, we examined how the tangible characteristics of an interactive prototype museum installation influence how visitors perceive a particular story. The communicated story relates a historical journey in ancient Egypt to the physical and architectural characteristics of the entrance colonnade at the Djoser Complex in Saqqara. The first preliminary findings indicate how tangible interaction is able to engage museum visitors more to accomplish additional efforts, facilitating a vivid understanding of cultural values and architectural qualities of built heritage. ispartof: pages:441-444 ispartof: Proceedings of ARQUEOLÓGICA 2.0 - 8th International Congress on Archaeology, Computer Graphics, Cultural Heritage and Innovation pages:441-444 ispartof: International Congress on Archaeology, Computer Graphics, Cultural Heritage and Innovation ‘ARQUEOLÓGICA 2.0’ location:Valencia, Spain date:5 Sep - 7 Sep 2016 status: published

ispartof: Westvlaamse Archaeologica vol:26 pages:48-51 status: published

Within the framework of the project “Tracing Palaeolithic Aurochs: Rock Art Survey in Upper Egypt”, financed by the National Geographic Society, the authors participated in the long standing tradition of Belgian rock art research in Egypt. Under the direction of Dr. Dirk Huyge, extensive stretches of rock formations along wadi’s in the Eastern Desert between Edfu and Kom Ombo were surveyed in October-November 2014 for the presence of more prehistoric rock art sites, similar to the ones already discovered and studied by the Belgian team in this same region at Qurta and el-Hosh (Huyge et al 2007, 2011, 2012; Huyge 2009). This contribution focuses uniquely on a new component introduced to the 2014 mission: the development and testing of HD imaging techniques for rapid and accurate field recording of the sites with petroglyphs. Multi-light reflectance and 3D photogrammetry techniques were tested on their reliability and operability for a survey in the field. no issn/isbn ispartof: pages:1-11 ispartof: Proceedings ”Young Researchers Overseas’ Day” (16.12.2014) pages:1-11 ispartof: Young Researchers Overseas’ Day location:Brussels date:14 Dec - 14 Dec 2014 status: published

This article presents a set of 16 clay cones conserved in the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH). They entered the Ancient Near East collections of the museum through various pathways since the early 20th century. These cones, nails or pegs were once placed in the foundations or walls of prominent Mesopotamian structures. The inscriptions on them testify to the grand building achievements of the rulers under which they were produced. The cones discussed in this publication are dated to the reigns of Enmetena, Ur-Bau, Gudea, Šulgi, Išme-Dagan and Lipit-Eštar (ca. 2400 to 1900 BC). In addition, the importance of interactive images for the unbiased publication of this type of three-dimensional inscribed objects is demonstrated using the Portable Light Dome system developed by the KU Leuven. ispartof: Bulletin van de Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis vol:84 pages:5-48 status: published

This contribution comments on the five building bricks, inscribed with cuneiform text, belonging to the Ancient Near Eastern section of the archaeological collections of the Leuven University (Belgium). These bricks date to the periods of Amar-Suen (c. 2046-2038 BC), Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) and Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 605-562 BC) and are remnants of building projects commissioned by these Mesopotamian kings. All of them were studied and are presented here with the help of images made with the Portable Light Dome technology. ispartof: Akkadica vol:136 issue:1 pages:89-101 status: published

Reflectance imaging has proven its value over the past decade. Thanks to this imaging technique cultural heritage artefacts can now be studied and presented in ways which were/are inconceivable with established digital photography. Research centres and users groups all over the world have experimented with the approach. Cuneiform studies in particular have benefited from these new possibilities. Throughout the development of this technology clay tablets with inscribed text and impressed seals were recorded with different methods in the reflectance imaging arsenal. ispartof: Portable Light Dome System, from registration to online publication within the hour: status quaestionis Portable Light Dome project for cuneiform documents status: Published online

The Royal Museums of Art and History of Brussels (RMAH) boast a rich and world-renowned collection of glyptic material from the Ancient Near East. The collection consists of stamp and cylinder seals, seal impressions and sealings, originating from a broad range of cultures and dating from the beginning of their production down to the Roman period. They illustrate the entire historical development of a type of object that provides unique insights into the economic, cultural, enviromental and political history of a vast region. Over the years, many of these seals, seal impressions and sealings have been studied and published, but a comprehensive revision of the entire corpus imposed itself since long date. This contribution presents the first results of this scientific and museological exercise. ispartof: Bulletin van de Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis vol:83 pages:23-43 status: published

ispartof: Phoenix: Bulletin Uitgegeven door het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux vol:59 issue:2 pages:67-78 status: published