Anthropology 2022

Picturing the Past: An Introduction to Digital Epigraphy and Archaeological Illustration

Fall 2013 Syllabus (subject to change)
Harvard College/GSAS: 80064
Alexandre Tokovinine (Anthropology) and Peter Der Manuelian (Near Eastern
Languages and Civilizations; Anthropology)
tokovin@fas.harvard.edu, peter_manuelian@harvard.edu
Meeting Time: Tuesdays 13:30 pm
Classroom: CGIS Knafel Building, basement computer lab K018

Clear, scientifically accurate, and aesthetically pleasing illustrations are an indispensable part of the
archaeologists toolkit. This course explores the history, development, and current methodology behind
archaeological illustration as it applies primarily to two sample cultures, Egyptian (Old World) and
Maya (New World). Students will particularly focus on epigraphythe creation of facsimile line
drawings of relief sculpture, inscriptions, and selected three-dimensional objects for publicationin
both its traditional, and now overwhelmingly digital forms. Labs will furnish access to todays computer
and tablet devices, and students will gain practical experience working directly from objects in the
various archaeological collections of Harvard University and beyond. No previous artistic training is
assumed; basic computer skills will be expanded into the realm of archaeological illustration, 3D
scanning, and vector tracing from high-resolution photographs. Classes will include meetings in
Harvards Visualization Center, and explore the various routes to scholarly publication in the widest
sense of the word.

STAFF:
OFFICE HOURS &
PHOTO NAME DEPT EMAIL & PHONE
LOCATION
Peabody Museum 35C
Instructor: 11 Divinity Avenue
tokovin@fas.harvard.edu
Alexandre Anthropology
617-496-7186
Tokovinine

Office: Semitic Museum

rm 208, 6 Divinity Ave.
Instructor: Thursdays 12, or by
NELC/ peter_manuelian@harvard.edu
Peter Der appointment; or by
Anthropology 617-496-8558
Manuelian Skype video from home
by appointment: (Skype
name: pmanuelian)

Course Requirements and Final Sat/Unsat Grade Percentages:

Weekly readings, labs, & class participation: 30%

Several drawing assignments: 30%
Final project (3D drawing, 2D epigraphic drawing): 40%

Students must successfully complete all requirements in order to pass the course.
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Re-grading Policy: Students may request that a particular grade be re-examined, but with the
understanding that the re-examined grade could as easily go down as go up.

Late Submissions: Without approved arrangements with Course staff prior to due date, late
submissions will be marked down one-half grade (i.e. A to A-) per day late.

The rules of academic integrity apply to all exams and assignments for this course, as outlined in
the Handbook for students:
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k69286&pageid=icb.page355695.
Papers and other work should be created for and submitted to only this course. Any student who
wishes to submit work used in a previous course must obtain the prior written permission of the
instructor. If a student wishes to submit the same or similar work to more than one course during
the same term, the prior written permission of all of the instructors involved must be obtained. A
student who submits the same or similar work to more than one course without such prior
permission will ordinarily be required to withdraw from the College or from GSAS.
Collaboration in the completion of assignments is prohibited unless explicitly permitted by the
instructor.

Any student needing academic adjustments or accommodations is requested to present their letter
from the Accessible Education Office (AEO) and speak with the professor by the end of the
second week of the term. Failure to do so may result in the Course Heads inability to respond in
a timely manner. All discussions will remain confidential, although AEO may be consulted to
discuss appropriate implementation.

Collaboration Permitted in Assignments

Discussion and the exchange of ideas are essential to doing academic work. For assignments in
this course, you are encouraged to consult with your classmates as you work on drawings and lab
assignments. However, after discussions with peers, make sure that you create your drawings
yourself and ensure that any work you submit for evaluation is the result of your own efforts.

REQUIRED TEXTS:
Joanne Pillsbury, ed., Past Presented. Archaeological Illustration and the Ancient Americas.
Washington D.C: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2012. $50
Jack Green, Emily Teeter, and John A. Larson, eds., Picturing the past: imaging and imagining
the ancient Middle East. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2012.
$30 or free download at: http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oimp/oimp34.html
Selected PDF files posted on course iSite

12 or 13 class meetings.
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SCHEDULE OF CLASSES & READINGS
(Readings should be completed before each Tuesday class)

WEEK 1
Tuesday, September 3
Illustration in archaeology: between humanities and sciences
(Tokovinine/Manuelian) (No readings due until Tuesday Sept. 10)

WEEK 2
Due Tuesday, September 10. Drawing Assignment 1 starts in-class (Egyptian pencil-tracing)
Archaeological and epigraphic illustration in the Old World (Egypt as the main case study) (Manuelian)

Lorraine Daston and Peter Gallison

2010 (2007) Objectivity. New York: Zone Books, pp. 1753, 309361

Molyneaux, Brian Leigh

1997 Introduction: The cultural Life of Images. In B. L. Molyneaux, ed., The Cultural Life of Images:
Visual Representation in Archaeology. London: Routledge, pp. 110

Green, Jack
2012 Introduction. In Jack Green, Emily Teeter, and John A. Larson, eds. Picturing the past: imaging
and imagining the ancient Middle East. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago, pp. 1323

Dorman, Peter F.
2001 Epigraphy. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt I, pp. 471477. Edited by Donald B.
Redford. Oxford: Oxford University Press

WEEK 3
Due Tuesday, September 17: Readings and Drawing Assignment 2 starts in-class (Mayan pencil-tracing)
Archaeological and epigraphic illustration in the New World (Maya as the case study) (Tokovinine/Fash)

Pillsbury, Joanne
2012 Perspectives: Representing the Pre-Columbian Past. In Pillsbury, Joanne, ed., Past Presented:
Archaeological Illustration and the Ancient Americas. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks
Research Library and Collection, pp. 146

Houston, Stephen D.
2013 Ping-Pong, Polygons, Virgins: Graphic Representations of the Ancient Maya. In Sheila Bonde
and Stephen D. Houston, eds. Re-Presenting the Past: Archaeology through Text and Image.
Providence: Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World, pp. 3549

Just, Bryan
2012 Printed Pictures of Maya Sculpture. In Pillsbury, Joanne, ed., Past Presented: Archaeological
Illustration and the Ancient Americas. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and
Collection, pp. 355384

Hutson, Scott R.
2012 Unavoidable Imperfections: Historical Contexts for Representing Ruined Maya Buildings. In
Pillsbury, Joanne, ed., Past Presented: Archaeological Illustration and the Ancient Americas.
Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, pp. 283316
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WEEK 4
Due Tuesday, September 24: Readings and Drawing Assignment 3 starts in-class (profile drawing)
Field drawing in archaeology (non-epigraphy) (Tokovinine/Manuelian); Intros to Illustrator and Photoshop

Wheeler, E. R. M.
1947 Recording of Archaeological Strata. Ancient India. Bulletin of the Archaeological Survey of
India, 3, pp. 143150

Ford, David
1993 The Nature of Clarity in Archaeological Line Drawings. Journal of Field Archaeology 20 (3):
319333

Adkins, Lesley, and Roy Adkins

1989 Archaeological Illustration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 59130

Bradley, Richard.
1997 To See is to have Seen: Craft Traditions in British Field Archaeology. In B. L.
Molyneaux, ed., The Cultural Life of Images: Visual Representation in
Archaeology. London: Routledge, pp. 6271

Dillon, Brian D.
1985 Tools and Techniques. In: Dillon, Brian, ed., A Students Guide to Archaeological Illustration.
Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, pp. 934

WEEK 5
Due Tuesday, October 1: Meet in Peabody Museum B8
Photography in archaeology and epigraphy (Old and New World) (Tokovinine/Manuelian); Assignment 4
(photography) starts in-class

Bohrer, Frederick.
2005. Photography and Archaeology. In Smiles, Sam, and Stephanie Moser, eds.
Envisioning the Past: Archaeology and the Image. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 180191

Shanks, Michael.
1997 Photography and Archaeology. In Molyneux, B. L., ed. The Cultural Life of Images: Visual
Representation in Archaeology. London: Routledge, pp. 73107

Matthews, Sydney Kent

1968 Photography in Archaeology and Art. London: Baker, pp. 715, 6075, 101120

Dorrell, Peter G.
1994 Photography in Archaeology and Conservation. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
pp. 119, 5464, 96108, 154176, 208237
Maybe pp. 120153 (site photography)

Emily Teeter
2012 Photography and Documentation of the Middle East. In Jack Green, Emily Teeter, and John A.
Larson, eds. Picturing the past: imaging and imagining the ancient Middle East. Chicago: The
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, pp. 4549

Peter Der Manuelian

1992 George Andrew Reisner on Archaeological Photography. Journal of the American Research
Center in Egypt 29, pp. 134
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WEEK 6
Due Tuesday, October 8: Meet in Peabody Museum B8
Challenges of drawing full-round sculpture/artifacts (Old and New world) > tutorial with Barbara Fash
(Tokovinine/Barbara Fash); Assignment 5 starts in-class

Barbara Fash
2012 Beyond the Naked Eye: Multidimensionality of Sculpture in Archaeological Illustration. In
Pillsbury, Joanne, ed., Past Presented: Archaeological Illustration and the Ancient Americas.
Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, pp. 449470

Corsiglia, Jennifer, and Martin D. Rosen

1985 Stone Artifacts. In: Dillon, Brian, ed., A Students Guide to Archaeological Illustration. Los
Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, pp. 131142

Becker, Jane
1985 Ceramic Figurines. In: Dillon, Brian, ed., A Students Guide to Archaeological Illustration. Los
Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, pp. 123129

Porter, James B.
1985 Relief Monuments. In: Dillon, Brian, ed., A Students Guide to Archaeological Illustration. Los
Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, pp. 7794

Adkins, Lesley, and Roy Adkins

1989 Archaeological Illustration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 152192

WEEK 7
Due Tuesday, October 15: Meet in Peabody Museum B8
3D scanning in archaeology and epigraphy (Tokovinine/Manuelian); Assignment 6 (3D scanning) starts in-class

Beaubien, H., B. V. Karas, and W. Fitzhugh

2007 Documenting Mongolia's Deer Stones: Application of three-dimensional digital imaging
technology to preservation. In J. G. Douglas, P. Jett, and J. Winter, eds. Scientific Research on the
Sculptural Arts of Asia: Proceedings of the Third Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art.
London: Archetype Publications, pp. 133142

Tokovinine, Alexandre, and Barbara Fash

2008 Scanning History: the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions Tests a 3D Scanner in the Field.
Symbols (Spring), pp. 1719

Wachowiak, Melvin J., and Basiliki Vicky Karas

2009 3D Scanning and Replication for Museum and Cultural Heritage Applications. Journal of the
American Institute for Conservation 48(2), pp. 141158

Remondino, F. et al.
2009 Multi-Sensor 3D Documentation of the Maya Site of Copan. 22nd CIPA Symposium, October
1115, 2009, Kyoto, Japan. URL: http://cipa.icomos.org/fileadmin/template/doc/KYOTO/131-
1.pdf

WEEK 8
Due Tuesday, October 22
Egyptian epigraphy and its drawing practices (Manuelian); Assignment 7 (Egyptian epigraphy) starts in-class
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Der Manuelian, Peter

1998 Digital Epigraphy: An Approach to Streamlining Egyptological Epigraphic Method. Journal of
the American Research Center in Egypt 35, pp. 97113

Der Manuelian, Peter

1989/2013 A Manual for Epigraphers (unpublished)

Dorman, Peter F.
2008 Epigraphy and Recording. In Richard H. Wilkinson, ed., Egyptology Today. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 7797. (with bibliography on pp. 25961)

Malatkova, Jolana
2011 Searching for an undistorted template (digital epigraphy in action). In Strudwick, Nigel, and
Helen Strudwick (eds), Old Kingdom, new perspectives: Egyptian art and archaeology 2750
2150 BC, pp. 19299. Oxford: Oxbow Books

Strudwick, Nigel
2012 Facsimiles of ancient Egyptian paintings: the work of Nina de Garis Davies, Amice Calverley,
and Myrtle Broome. In Picturing the past: imaging and imagining the ancient Middle East, pp.
6170. Edited by Jack Green, Emily Teeter, and John A. Larson. Chicago: The Oriental Institute
of the University of Chicago

W. Raymond Johnson
2012 The Epigraphic Survey and the Chicago method. In Jack Green, Emily Teeter, and John A.
Larson, eds. Picturing the past: imaging and imagining the ancient Middle East. Chicago: The
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, pp. 3138

WEEK 9
Due Tuesday, October 29
Mesoamerican epigraphy and its drawing practices (Tokovinine); Assignment 8 (Mesoamerican epigraphy) starts
in-class

Graham, Ian
1975 Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions. Volume 1: Introduction to the Corpus. Cambridge,
MA: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, pp. 714

2002 Alfred Maudslay and the Maya: A Biography. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pp. 220
234

2012 The Road to Ruins. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp. 337348, 359365

WEEK 10
Due Tuesday, November 5: Meet in Peabody Museum B8
Drawing ceramics (Catherine Alexander); Assignment 9 (ceramics drawing) starts in-class
Final project proposals due

Olin, Joyce
1985 Ceramics. In: Dillon, Brian, ed., A Students Guide to Archaeological Illustration. Los Angeles:
Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, pp. 95109

Becker, Jane
1985 Special Problems in Ceramic Illustration. In: Dillon, Brian, ed., A Students Guide to
Archaeological Illustration. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, pp. 111121
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Adkins, Lesley, and Roy Adkins

1989 Archaeological Illustration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 152192

Griffiths, Nick, Anne Jenner, and Christine Wilson

1996 Drawing Archaeological Finds: A Handbook. Dorchester: Archetype Publications Ltd., pp. 5188

WEEK 11
Due Tuesday, November 12
Reconstruction drawing and digital reconstruction (Tokovinine/Manuelian); work on final projects during lab
time

James, Simon
1997 Drawing Inferences: Visual Reconstructions in Theory and Practice. In B. L. Molyneaux, ed.,
The Cultural Life of Images: Visual Representation in Archaeology. London: Routledge, pp. 22
48

Gillings, Mark
2005 The Real, the Virtually Real and the Hyperreal: the Role of VR in Archaeology. In Smiles, Sam,
and Stephanie Moser, eds. Envisioning the Past: Archaeology and the Image. Oxford: Blackwell,
pp. 223239

Houston, Stephen D.
2012 Telling it Slant: Imaginative Reconstructions of Classic Maya Life. In Pillsbury, Joanne, ed., Past
Presented: Archaeological Illustration and the Ancient Americas. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton
Oaks Research Library and Collection, pp. 387411

Rick, John
2012 Realizing the Illustration Potential of Digital Models and Images: Beyond Visualization. In
Pillsbury, Joanne, ed., Past Presented: Archaeological Illustration and the Ancient Americas.
Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, pp. 413446

WEEK 12
Due Tuesday, November 19
Virtual Giza: meet in Harvards Visualization Center (Manuelian); work on final projects during lab time
Final project draft due

Golvin, Jean-Claude
2012 Drawing Reconstruction Images of Ancient Sites. In Jack Green, Emily Teeter, and John A.
Larson, eds. Picturing the past: imaging and imagining the ancient Middle East. Chicago: The
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, pp. 7782.

Sanders, Donald H.
2012 A Brief History of Virtual Heritage. In Jack Green, Emily Teeter, and John A. Larson, eds.
Picturing the past: imaging and imagining the ancient Middle East. Chicago: The Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago, pp. 95103

Dassault Systmes
2012 Giza 3D (dassault-systemes_giza3d_booklet.pdf; 11 pages)

Harvard Magazine
2012 The Humanities, Digitized (harvard_magazine MayJune 2012excerpt.pdf; 4 pages)
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THANKSGIVING WEEK
Tuesday, November 26
No class, work on final projects

WEEK 13
Due Tuesday, December 3
Final project presentations (Students; Tokovinine/Manuelian)

READING PERIOD
Wed, Dec. 4Wed. Dec. 11

EXAM PERIOD
Thurs Dec. 12 Fri. Dec. 20 (Final projects due?)