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  4. Cultural Categorization in Epigraphic Heritage Digitization
 
research article

Cultural Categorization in Epigraphic Heritage Digitization

Tamrazyan, Hamest  
•
Hovhannisyan, Gayane
April 24, 2025
Heritage

The digitization of cultural and intellectual heritage is expanding the research scope and methodologies of the scientific discipline of Humanities. Culturally diverse epigraphic systems reveal a range of methodological impediments on the way to their integration into digital epigraphic data preservation systems—EAGLE and FAIR ontologies predominantly based on Greco-Roman cultural categorization. We suggest an interdisciplinary approach—drawing from Heritage Studies, Cultural Epistemology, and Social Semiotics—to ensure the comprehensive encoding, preservation, and accessibility of at-risk cultural artifacts. Heritage Studies emphasize inscriptions as material reflections of historical memory. Cultural Epistemology helps us to understand how different knowledge systems influence data categorization, while semiotic analysis reveals how inscriptions function within their social and symbolic contexts. Together, these methods guide the integration of culturally specific information into broader digital infrastructures. The case of Ukrainian epigraphy illustrates how this approach can be applied to ensure that local traditions are accurately represented and not flattened by standardized international systems. We argue that the same methodology can also support the digitization of other non-Greco-Roman heritage. FAIR Ontology and EAGLE vocabularies prioritize standardization and interoperability, introducing text mining, GIS mapping, and digital visualization to trace patterns across the vast body of texts from different historical periods. Standardizing valuable elements of cultural categorization and reconstructing and integrating lost or underrepresented cultural narratives will expand the capacity of the above systems and will foster greater inclusivity in Humanities research. Ukrainian epigraphic classification systems offer a unique, granular approach to inscription studies as a worthwhile contribution to the broader cognitive and epistemological horizons of the Humanities. Through a balanced use of specificity and interoperability principles, this study attempts to contribute to epigraphic metalanguage by challenging the monocentric ontologies, questioning cultural biases in digital categorization, and promoting open access to diverse sources of knowledge production.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.3390/heritage8050148
Author(s)
Tamrazyan, Hamest  

EPFL

Hovhannisyan, Gayane
Date Issued

2025-04-24

Publisher

MDPI AG

Published in
Heritage
Volume

8

Issue

5

Article Number

148

Subjects

epigraphy

•

Ukrainian inscriptions

•

FAIR Ontology

•

EAGLE vocabulary

•

digital humanities

•

classification systems

•

SKOS

•

cultural heritage preservation

•

digital epigraphy

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
DHI-GE  
RelationRelated workURL/DOI

IsSupplementedBy

[DATASET] The Ukrainian Epigraphic Corpus used in this study is publicly available in the Zenodo repository: Tamrazyan, H. (2025). Ukrainian Epigraphic Corpus: Academic and Web‑Based Texts (20th–21st Century)

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14795104
Available on Infoscience
May 9, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/249996
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