Online publication - images of published ostraca found in the Eastern Desert

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the photographs of the ostraca found in the Eastern Desert of Egypt by the International Mission of Mons Claudianus (from 1987 to 1993) and the French Archaeological Mission of the Eastern Desert (MAFDO, since 1994) and published are now available online.

The ostraca come from the following sites: Mons Claudianus, Xeron Pelagos, Krokodilô, Abbad and Bir Samut.

These photos (mostly infrared) were taken by Adam Bülow-Jacobsen, whom we warmly thank. We are also grateful to Hélène Cuvigny, director of the MAFDO from 1994 to 2013, and editor with Adam Bülow-Jacobsen of a large part of the ostraca whose images are made available today.

These images are hosted on a French public server, Nakala, and have a persistent identifier (DOI).

A link to these images can be found on two platforms:

- on papyri.info: 1112 (of which 1076 in DDbDP, the others in DCLP) links

- on the Desert Networks project website: 1372 links.

The photos were uploaded online by Noémi Villars, member of the ERC Desert Networks project (ERC-2017-STG, Proposal number 759078) directed by Bérangère Redon. The integration of links to Nakala on papyri.info was done by Carmen Lanz, under the supervision of James Cowey. We both thank them for their commitment and efficiency.

On the Desert Networks project site, the ostraca are associated with the sites where they were discovered (page "Gazetteer of Sites"). They are listed in the "Primary Sources" section. Click on the link in the "Image" column to access the photos.

For example the images of the published ostraca found at the Mons Claudianus are available here: https://desertnetworks.huma-num.fr/sites/DN_SIT0143#written-sources ; the perennial URL of O.Claud. 1 4 is https://api.nakala.fr/iiif/10.34847/nkl.b3e967kf/024fb4317a1cf5c7216248f66b768f8e188d6c9d

Yours sincerely

Bérangère Redon and James Cowey

PS: as a reminder, the images of O.Did. and O.Krok. 2 are already accessible online on the IFAO website: https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/publications/fifao67/ and https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/publications/fifao81/.