Blog

One most successful actions of the AELAW network has been the Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) that have made it possible for young researchers to collaborate in the objectives of the network and improve their training in European reference centres. Throughout last three years a total number of ten STSM have been granted, which means a spending of 18.800 euros. Now, we bring you some of the testimonies of those who participated in them.

Researcher: Javier Herrera Rando (University of Zaragoza, Spain)

STSM title: Italic epigraphy (WG-1)

Istituti di Studi Sul Mediterraneo Antico (Rome, Italy), 01/05 to 31/05/2016

My STSM took place during May 2016 and was supervised by dr. Enrico Benelli of the Istituti di Studi Sul Mediterraneo Antico in Rome. It was the first year and the databases were not ready yet, so my mission was focused on improving my training in Italic languages and writings. Given my belonging to the Spanish funded research group El Nacimiento de las Culturas Epigráficas en el Mediterráneo Occidental (ENCEOM) and the subject of my doctoral thesis on the epigraphic culture of southern Roman Spain, I decided to focus on public displayed epigraphy and its problems, with special interest in the official epigraphy. Thanks to the STSM, I was able to consult the rich funds of the Roman libraries. The result of this work has been a publication about official epigraphy in indigenous languages, currently under review. At the same time, I was able to prepare my communication with G. de Tord at the colloquium held in Rome in June 2016 precisely on public epigraphy in the Western Mediterranean. Finally, I was able to accompany Dr. Mª J. Estarán in her autopsies of Umbrian and Oscan inscriptions in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia, the Museo Archeologico di Colfiorito, the Museo Campano di Capua and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Paestum. The result was an abundant photographic material at the disposal of both the AELAW network and the project ENCEOM then in force.

Researcher: Ignacio Simón Cornago (University of Basque Country, Spain)

STSM title: Venetic Inscriptions (WG-1)

Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” (Rome, Italy), 01/04 to 28/04/2017

One of the aims of the AELAW network is to create a census of all the published inscriptions of each ancient European language. I am a member of the WG1 COST-AELAW (Census of Inscriptions of Italy) and the purpose of my project was to catalogue the Venetic inscriptions, one of the most important Paleo-Italic corpus. The stay took place at Tor Vergata University (Rome), under the support of professor Paolo Poccetti, one of the leading scholars in Paleo-Italic languages and epigraphies. Under professor Poccetti supervision and advice, I was able to work at the Biblioteca dell´Area Letteraria, Storica, Filosofica, the library of Tor Vergata (Faculty of Letters) specialised in Ancient History and Classics, and also at the École Française de Rome. I have catalogued more than 400 Venetic inscriptions in the AELAW Database (Inscriptions). The file contains its principle data for each inscription: Linguistic Attribution, Bibliography, Findspot (Country, Region and Site), Current Location, Material, Object Type, Writing System, Date and Text.

Researcher: Víctor Sabaté Vidal (University of Barcelona, Spain)

STSM title: Language Database (WG-1)

Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” (Rome, Italy), 07/02 to 22/02/2018

The aim of the mission was to fill in the records of AELAW language database, in particular those of the Italic languages (WG01): Faliscan, South Picene, Sabine, Umbrian, Marsian, Volscian, Hernican, Vestinian, Paelignian, Marrucinian, Pre-Samnite, and Oscan. Each record on the language database consists of nine sections: Language name, Location (the area in which it is attested), Language family, Chronology, Number of inscriptions, Bibliography (subdivided in Printed corpora, Journals, Other printed editions, Digital editions, Conferences, and Unpublished sources), Typology of objects (i.e. media), Main types of texts, and Writing systems used. The work has been carried out under the close supervision of Prof Paolo Poccetti, one of the leaders of WG01 and the researcher responsible for most of the database records. Its completion has been done through bibliographical research at the École Française de Rome and at The Arthur & Janet C. Ross Library of the American Academy in Rome. At the end of the mission, the database records have also been revised by Dr M. José Estarán Tolosa (University of Zaragoza).

Researcher: Lorenzo Muzzi (University of Bologna, Italy)

STSM title: Census of the Celtiberian inscriptions (WG-2)

Universidad de Zaragoza (Zaragoza, Spain), 09/04 to 23/04/2018

My STSM took place at the University of Zaragoza under the supervision of Prof. C. Jordán and F. Beltrán and consisted in collecting data about the Celtiberian language. The data had to be organized according to the following scheme: Language name, Localization, Language family, Chronology, Number of inscriptions, Bibliography, Typology of objects (material), Main types of texts, Writing system used. My Spanish tutor Prof. Jordán supported me during this work suggesting how and where to find bibliography and revising my Celtiberian file. The next step consisted in inserting the Celtiberian inscriptions into the AELAW database, referring for this purpose to the Hesperia Database, where all the Celtiberian inscriptions are now available. Hesperia database is notoriously an analytic database in which all data on the Paleo-Hispanic inscriptions is collected. After a provisional census of the inscriptions, I decided to insert the inscriptions from the province of Zaragoza (76 available) filling all the compulsory fields (language, finding place, stock place, chronology, etc.) without entering the text. In addition from what was proposed in my initial work plan, I also included in my STSM the compilation of four fragmentary languages of ancient Italy: Raetic, Venetic, Messapic and Camunic. The file pattern was the same of the Celtiberian file and the result has been the improvement of these languages files.