Miller C. Prosser Associate Director of Digital Studies Division of the Humanities, University of Chicago [email protected]

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Ancient Near Eastern Studies: Late Bronze Age Economy and Society, Ugaritic language, Aramaic, Biblical Hebrew, Post-Biblical Hebrew, Middle Egyptian, Akkadian

Digital Humanities: computational methods for philology and archaeology; digital imaging; digital publication

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Northwest Semitic Philology, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, 2010 (Dissertation title: “Bunušu in Ugaritian Society”; committee members: Dennis Pardee, Matthew Stolper, David Schloen)

M.A. in Northwest Semitic Philology, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, 2000

B.A. in Biblical Archaeology (cum laude), Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, 1993

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Associate Director, Program in Digital Studies of Language, Culture, and History, Division of the Humanities, University of Chicago (https://digitalstudies.uchicago.edu), 2020–present

Research Database Specialist, OCHRE Data Service (https://ochre.uchicago.edu), Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 2011–present

Data Manager and Digital Photography Lab Manager, Persepolis Fortification Archive Project, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 2011–2020

Research Project Professional, Persepolis Fortification Archive Project, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 2007–2011

Co-Director, Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory Project (https://projects.rcc.uchicago.edu/ochre/RSTI), Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 2012–present

Onsite Data Manager and Photographer, University of Chicago Tell Keisan Excavations (Israel), Summer 2016

Onsite Data Manager and Photographer, University of Chicago Zincirli Excavations (Turkey), Summer 2013

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Cuneiform Tablet Photographer, Mission de Ras Shamra (Paris, Damascus, and Aleppo), 2004– 2007

Advisory Committee Member, Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC), University of Pennsylvania (http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/), 2018–present

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Lecturer, University of Chicago Division of the Humanities: “Data Management for the Humanities” (DIGS 20003/30003), Autumn Quarter 2018, Autumn Quarter 2019, and Autumn Quarter 2020 “Data Publication for the Humanities” (DIGS 20005/30005), Winter Quarter 2018 and Winter Quarter 2020

Instructor, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois: “Introduction to the Old Testament as Literature,” Fall Semester 2001 “Egyptian Hieroglyphs,” Spring Semester 2003

PUBLICATIONS

“A Manifesto on Digital Philology: The Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory” (in preparation).

“Integrating Spatial Data in the Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory,” forthcoming in CyberResearch on the Ancient Near East and Neighboring Regions: Case Studies on Archaeological Data, Objects, Texts, and Digital Archiving, volume 3, edited by Vanessa Bigot Juloux, Amy R. Gansell, and Alessandro Di Ludovico. Leiden: Brill (in press).

(with Sandra R. Schloen) “The Tel Zayit Database: Digital Methods for Archaeological Data Recording, Analysis and Publication,” forthcoming in the final report volume on the archaeological excavations at Tel Zayit in Israel, edited by Ron E. Tappy. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press (in press).

“Patrons, Brokers, and Clients at Late Bronze Age Ugarit,” forthcoming in “Like ’Ilu Are You Wise”: Studies in Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures in Honor of Dennis G. Pardee, edited by Humphrey H. Hardy, Joseph Lam, and Eric D. Reymond. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (in press).

“OCHRE Data Service,” forthcoming in The Oriental Institute Annual Report 2019–2020. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (in press).

(with Sandra R. Schloen) “Unlocking Legacy Data: Integrating New and Old in the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment (OCHRE),” pp. 39–52 in Old Excavation Data: What Can We Do? Proceedings of the Workshop Held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April

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2016, edited by Edeltraud Aspöck, Seta Štuhec, Karin Kopetzky, and Matthias Kucera. Oriental and European Archaeology 16. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2020.

“Digging for Data: A Practical Critique of Digital Archaeology,” pp. 309–323 in “An Excellent Fortress for His Armies, a Refuge for the People”: Egyptological, Archaeological, and Biblical Studies in Honor of James K. Hoffmeier, edited by Richard E. Averbeck and K. Lawson Younger (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2020).

(with Sarah Yardney and Sandra R. Schloen) “New Digital Tools for a New Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible.” Open Theology 5/1 (2019): 80–94. https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2019- 0006.

(with Sandra R. Schloen) “OCHRE Data Service,” pp. 191–193 in The Oriental Institute Annual Report 2018–2019 (Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2019).

“Digital Philology in the Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory Project: Text Curation through Computa- tional Intelligence,” pp. 314–335 in CyberResearch on the Ancient Near East and Neighboring Regions: Case Studies on Archaeological Data, Objects, Texts, and Digital Archiving, volume 1, edited by Vanessa Bigot Juloux, Amy R. Gansell, and Alessandro Di Ludovico. Digital Biblical Studies 2. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

(with Sandra R. Schloen) “OCHRE Data Service,” pp. 223–225 in The Oriental Institute Annual Report 2017–2018. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2018.

(with Sandra R. Schloen) “OCHRE Data Service,” pp. 216–217 in The Oriental Institute Annual Report 2015–2016. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2016.

“OCHRE Data Service,” pp. 198–99 in The Oriental Institute Annual Report 2013–2014. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2014.

“Centering Spenser: An Archaeologist’s Perspective,” Spenser Review 44.2.35 (Fall 2014) http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/spenseronline/review/volume-44/442/digital- projects/centering-spenser-an-archaeologists-perspective.

“Men from Ra’šu in Service of the King: A New Study of RS 15.022+ (KTU/CAT 4.141),” Maarav 19 (2012): 163–180.

“Detailed Epigraphic Notes on KTU 1.4 VII 19,” Ugarit-Forschungen 37 (2005): 479–490.

“Reconsidering the Reconstruction of KTU 1.4 VII 19,” Ugarit-Forschungen 33 (2001): 467–478.

PUBLIC LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS

“Deciphering Cuneiform with Artificial Intelligence,” Center for Data and Computing, University of Chicago, April 2020

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“CEDAR and OCHRE: Toward a Common Framework for Digital Philology,” Critical Editions for Digital Analysis and Research (CEDAR) Project Workshop, Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, University of Chicago, February 2020.

“A Showcase of Digital Philology Projects using the OCHRE Database Platform,” Loyola University of Chicago, September 2019.

“A Manifesto on Digital Philology: The Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory,” Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (RAI), Paris, France, July 2019.

“The Power of OCHRE’s Highly Atomic Graph Database Model for the Creation and Curation of Digital Text Editions,” Workshop on Scholarly Digital Editions, Graph Data-Models and Semantic Web Technologies, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, June 2019.

“Making (Digital) Sense of Texts: An Approach to Digital Philology,” South Asian Languages and Civilizations (SALC) Seminar, University of Chicago, May 2019.

“Turning the Page on Digital Publications,” Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), Denver, Colorado, November 2018.

“Working in the OCHRE Database: From Texts to Prosopography,” International Conference on Prosopography in the Old Assyrian Texts, Yale University, June 2018.

“Making Change: Computational Methods for Analyzing Greek Coin Hoards in OCHRE,” Conference on Coin Circulation in the Ancient Greek World: Mapping and Networks, University of Chicago Center in Paris, May 2018.

“A Database Approach to Texts in the CEDAR Project,” Critical Editions for Digital Analysis and Research (CEDAR) Project Workshop, Regenstein Library, University of Chicago, May 2018.

“Modeling Textual Data and Complex Writing Systems to Address Philological Research Questions in OCHRE,” Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), Boston, Massachusetts, November 2017.

“The Strategy for Data Publication via the OCHRE Web API,” Computational Research Ecosystem for Scientific Collaboration and Training (CRESCAT) Project Workshop, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, April 2017.

“The Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory: A Textual and Archaeological Research Project in the OCHRE Database Environment,” Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society (AOS), Los Angeles, California, March 2017.

“Digital Philology in the Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory Project: Text Curation through Computational Intelligence,” Annual Meeting on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Atlanta, Georgia, March 2017.

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“More Than Just a Pretty Geodatabase: Spatial Data Integration Using the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment (OCHRE),” Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), San Antonio, Texas, November 2016.

“Seeking the Origin of Alphabets,” Tell Keisan Archaeological Field School, Israel, July 2016.

“Unlocking Legacy Data: Integrating Old and New Archaeological Records in the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment,” International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE), Vienna, Austria, April 2016.

“An Introduction to OCHRE for the CRESCAT project,” Computational Research Ecosystem for Scientific Collaboration and Training (CRESCAT) Project Workshop, Regenstein Library, University of Chicago, January 2016.

“Modeling Texts in the OCHRE Database Environment,” Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, January 2016.

“Why Don’t These Figures Add Up? Examining Texts from the Royal Palace at Ugarit,” Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), Atlanta, Georgia, November 2015.

“The OCHRE Database System for Historical and Economic Inquiry,” Economic Analysis of Ancient Trade Project Workshop, Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, University of Chicago, May 2015.

“Collaborative Research in a Database Environment: The Case for Cross-project Archaeological Investigation,” Computational Research on the Ancient Near East (CRANE) Project Workshop, University of Toronto, March 2015.

“Collaborative Research in a Database Environment: Many Projects, Diverse Data, One Research Goal,” Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), San Diego, California, November 2014.

“Beyond Digital Imaging: Integrating Digital Images and Philological Research Data,” Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), San Diego, California, November 2014.

“Strategies for Managing Digitized Texts Using the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment (OCHRE),” Digital Humanities Forum, University of Chicago, November 2014.

“Re-imagining Imaging for Archaeological and Philological Projects,” International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE), Basel, Switzerland, June 2014.

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“The OCHRE System Used for Data Management at Zincirli,” Zincirli Project Workshop, University of Tübingen, June 2014.

“Cross-project Analysis and Collaboration,” Computational Research on the Ancient Near East (CRANE) Project Workshop, University of Laval, Québec City, October 2014.

“Generating Epigraphic Letter Charts in a Database Environment: A Case-study in Alphabetic Ugaritic Mythological and Administrative Texts,” Annual Meeting on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Paris, France, April 2014.

“Managing Archaeological Data,” Zincirli Excavations Field School, Turkey, July 2013.

“Archaeological Data Integration and Cross-Project Analysis,” Computational Research on the Ancient Near East (CRANE) Project Workshop, University of Toronto, March 2013.

“The OCHRE Database, a Warehouse for Big Data Generated by Archaeological and Philological Projects at the Oriental Institute,” Chicago Colloquium on Digital Humanities and Computer Science, University of Chicago, November 2012.

“Using OCHRE for Epigraphic Image Management: The Persepolis Fortification Archive,” Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), Chicago, Illinois, November 2012.

“Using Computers to Help Scholars Have Good Arguments,” University of Chicago Humanities Day, October 2012.

“A New Epigraphic Study of RS 15.022+ (KTU 4.141),” Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago, Illinois, November 2008.

“Hired! Mobilizing a Workforce in Late Bronze Age Ugarit,” Ancient Societies Workshop, University of Chicago, November 2008.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Oriental Society Society of Biblical Literature American Schools of Oriental Research Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis

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