The third part of the website is devoted to what can be called more specifically “publication.” But our approach to the publication of Urkesh material is rather unconventional, and it comes to be embodied in a variety of different media.For one thing, it is central to our “philosophy” to conceive of preservation as an integral dimension of publication. This is not the norm in archaeology. But consider this: through conservation, we keep available for inspection the best of our finds, fossils of a life once lived, safeguarded as documentary evidence. And through reconstruction, we infuse new life into the ruin we find.
Beyond the physical remains – so safeguarded and restructured – there is the intellectual toil that translates the “things” into concepts.
The Record offers the most detailed documentation available, in a format that is properly digital. This means that it is “born digital”, i.e., it is geared from the very moment of excavation to a full digital structuring and exploitation.
The e-Library, on the other hand, follow the traditional, and linear, line of argument (whether on paper or digitized, as they are in the website). Click to see a synopsis of the three sections included in this third part – PRESERVATION, RECORD, and E-LIBRARY.