DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3604067
title: Architectural Sculpture in the Byzantine Negev (Golan 2020)

description: The database of the decorated architectural elements from the Byzantine Negev, Israel is part of the book “Architectural Sculpture from the Byzantine Negev: Characterization and Meaning.” (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110631760) The database is part of a catalogue in which each of the architectural elements has a specific inventory label that provides certain details about the artifact. For example, the first architectural element presented in the catalogue is item SH.A.10.BP.1. The first part of the inventory number – SH – is an abbreviation of the name of the site of its provenance, in this case, Shivta. The second part – A – refers to the structure, unit or feature in the site where the element is located, in this case, the “Pool House”. The third part of the inventory – 10 – refers to the room number within the structure or unit. The fourth part – BP – refers to the architectural function of the element, that is, BP, <strong>B</strong>ases and <strong>P</strong>odia. The last part of the inventory label – 1 – refers to the serial number of this specific element within the group of all of the architectural elements with the same function that are included in the catalogue. 40 Architectural elements that were not documented <em>in situ </em>have shorter inventory labels, because less information is known of their exact location. The database was created in Microsoft’s <em>Access </em>program, specifically, for the purposes of this study. The elements are divided according to their architectonic function. The categories of the forms are: arches, bases and podia, capitals, columns, cornices, decorated stones of undefined architectural context, doorjambs, floor tiles and lintels. The fields in all of the forms are mostly the same, apart from minor adjustments that relate to the data about certain types of elements. For example, the form for “cornices” includes the field “protruding from wall”; since this data is not relevant regarding the other types of architectural elements it does not appear in other forms. The database includes the following information: date of documentation; provenance and current location; state of preservation; citation of publication in which the element appears; general measurements and description; raw material; whether the element was painted; source of photographs; direction of photographs; general description of the decorational composition and a detailed description of the element and its decoration, including specific measurements. Most of the information on the database forms has been filled on site and provides a working description of the elements. The descriptions have not been edited in order to provide the most candid observation of the decorations with as little interpretation as possible. The descriptions were done systematically, most commonly from the top of the element to its bottom and in the case of lintels from left to right. In order to find a specific element in the database one should place the cursor on the “Inventory” field, select the “find” key and type the element’s inventory number in the dialogue box. The inventory numbers can be found in the publication mentioned at the top of the beginning of this description.
description: {"references": ["Golan, K. (April 2020). \"Architectural Sculpture in the Byzantine Negev: Characterization and Meaning.\" Archaeology of the Biblical Worlds 3. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter."]}