The conference was held in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India, from 17 to 21 August 2009. It was preceded by the first international Conference (October 2004 in Beijing), organized by the Joint Laboratory for Remote Data Collection in Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the second (December 2006 in Rome), organized by the Italian National Research Council. The third international conference was organized by the Electronic Historical and Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI, University of California. Berkeley), Bharatidasan University (Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu. India), the University of California (Merced), the Remote Data Collection Laboratory in Archaeology of the University of Siena (Italy), and the R. E. A. C. H. Foundation for Rural Education in the Field of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage of India (R. E. A. C. H. Foundation) of the Academy of Archaeology and the Study of Sciences in Ancient India.

The conference brought together more than 170 participants from 17 countries. About 70 sectional and 6 program reports were read out. All reports were accompanied by electronic demonstrations.

The conference was held in six sections: "Aerial Archaeology: Satellite Archaeology"; "Aerial archaeology: aerial photography and aerial scanning"; "Remote data collection in three dimensions: cyberarchaeology and landscape visualization in time"; "Management of cultural and natural resources of archaeological sites: problems of sustainability, practicality and organization of work with objects of cultural and historical heritage"; "Development of a unified technology for remote data collection for the interpretation of landscape ecosystems"; " Digitized historical and cultural atlases (projects and prototypes) and their components (geographical and chronological reference books, biographical indexes and reference books of social networks, thesauri, technological infrastructure, associative information sources and model representation)". The last meeting of the ECAI was held on the topic: "Historical and cultural atlas of remotely discovered archaeological sites: creating an information portal".

The conference was opened by V. Narayanaswamy, Minister of State for Planning, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture of the Government of India. He drew the attention of the audience to the recent Bill on Internet Resources for Cultural and Historical Heritage, adopted by the Parliament of India in 2009, on the basis of which many hundreds of thousands of objects of cultural and historical heritage of India can be codified and documented. To date, only 3,500 sites are under central government control, while 3,700 are under state government control. There is a huge potential for documenting and discovering ancient monuments belonging to a wide variety of cultural, historical and religious traditions throughout India-both North and South.

The scientific sessions of the first day of the conference were opened with two keynote presentations: L. Lancaster, Distinguished Professor at the University of California (Berkeley), Founder and Director of ECAI, and S. M. Ramaswamy, Vice-Chancellor of Gandigram Agricultural University (Dindigul, India).

When describing the work of the conference, the author first of all paid attention to the reports that dealt with the problems of Oriental studies.

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L. Lancaster in the report "Remote data collection and social sciences" noted that the rapid progress that is taking place now in the field of research, technology and data management inevitably forces us to keep up with the times. In the context of increasing access to data and the ability to move from one source base and scientific discipline to another, the strategies and goals of traditional approaches in social science research have begun to be questioned. This is not so much about the existence of social sciences as such, but rather about changing the research methods traditionally accepted in them. Social sciences could not but accept the challenge posed to them by modern digital technologies, including remote data collection. By now, they are already using a variety of digital visualization tools in at least six main areas: numerical (quantitative analysis), textual, descriptive (plotting and charting), spatial (geographic information systems - GIS), temporal and three-dimensional (landscape construction). And despite the fact that humanitarians began to master digital visualization methods somewhat later, their needs to analyze large information arrays are growing at the same rate as the available digitized information.

Assessing the current conference, which brought together many representatives of the humanities, L. Lancaster stressed that it should undoubtedly be considered an important event, since it should raise the question of the validity and effectiveness of using remote data collection for the study of cultural objects, texts, works of art - all the diversity that has been created by mankind for many centuries. his stories. The report was accompanied by a demonstration of many examples that reveal the possibilities of using remote data collection for studying the humanities, and in particular Oriental studies.

In his report "Changes in the South Indian landscape detected by satellite and their historical and archaeological projection", S. M. Ramaswamy showed a dynamic picture of the archaeological sites of South India, starting from the Stone Age, spoke about the technique of their detection using satellite mapping, and drew conclusions from observations of their placement concerning changes in the landscape systems of South India. India.

The sessions of the section "Aerial Archaeology: Satellite Archaeology" opened with the report "From stone tools to satellites: Problems of studying the prehistoric landscapes of Tamilnadu, South India", which was made by four speakers: S. Papu and K. Akhilesh (The Center for Educational Heritage named after the National Academy of Sciences of India). Sharma), S. Ravindranath (Regional Remote Data Collection Service Center - RRSSC, Bengaluru) and Udayraj (Indian Space Research Organization - ISRO). They presented a project dedicated to a multidisciplinary study of changes in the behavior strategy of prehistoric people living in the northern regions of the modern state of Tamilnadu, depending on changes in the environment observed in the Quaternary period. Detailed satellite mapping was carried out for 197 territories related to 160 parking lots. In the second phase of work, the entire territory of Tamilnadu should be surveyed, including sites from the Lower Pleistocene to the Early Historical periods.

The report by S. Partzak, Director of the Global Health Survey Laboratory in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alabama (Birmingham), a regular participant in all three conferences, was entitled " Expanding the boundaries of satellite archaeology in Egypt: Quickbird detection, creating a model for determining parking lots, and their temperature scale." The report is based on previous studies conducted in Egypt that tested a number of high-precision remote satellite sensing technologies. The result of these studies was the identification of hundreds of new, hitherto unknown archaeological sites.

The report of A. Sobotkova from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and S. A. Ross from the University of New South Wales (Sydney) was devoted to the problems of using a variety of high-resolution multispectral satellite images for wide-ranging archaeological exploration. To get a more complete picture of the archaeological landscape, multispectral satellite images are used in conjunction with an archaeological assessment of the area and the study of the external environment. The methodology was tested in the 2007 and 2008 seasons in Apulia (Italy) and in the 2009 season in the vicinity of the ancient city of Ceutopolis, near Kazanluk, Bulgaria. The combination of ground-based and remote exploration increases the probability of detecting archaeological sites.

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Two reports were prepared by a team of Indian researchers from the Thiyagarajar College of Engineering (Madurai). The topic of the first report is a new technique for classifying the Earth's surface using weak pulses, which is more effective than the traditional one. As an example, the image of Madurai obtained on a multispectral scanner was considered. The second report was on a similar topic: "Using medium-frequency pulses to classify the Earth's surface when scanning it from a satellite." According to the authors, the proposed method developed for satellite images of Madurai in 2004 is much more effective than the traditional one.

The project, presented by a team of nine researchers from the University of Central Florida (Orlando), the University of Florida (Gainesville), the U.S. Forest Service (Tallahassee), and the State Institute of Culture and History (Belmopan, Belize), focused on remote data collection on ancient Mayan land use patterns in Karakol, Belize, in a tropical wet jungle environment. In the course of its implementation, the authors expect to identify social, political, economic and environmental factors that determined the features of land use in Karakol, one of the largest (about 200 square kilometers) archaeological sites of the Maya era. For this purpose, it is planned to conduct a regional survey using satellite and onboard sensors and the latest programs, such as Landsat TM / ETM, ICONOS, LiDAR, with the financial support of NASA. The survey will help determine the amount of aboveground biomass and approximate habitat structure, and ultimately assess the nature and characteristics of the forest restoration process during the study period.

M. Forte (University of California, Merced) in the report " The landscape of the Western Han era and the application of remote data collection techniques in Xi'an (prov. Shaanxi, China) " described the initial stage of a multidisciplinary project undertaken in 2008 by researchers from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of California (Merced). Studying changes in the landscape is necessary to assess the cultural potential of the territory during the Western Han Dynasty, when the landscape itself was perceived simultaneously on three levels: sacred (as the landscape of royal mausoleums and tombs), urban (as part of Chang'an-the ancient capital of China) and as part of the traditional concept of space organization - Feng shui. Currently, the first steps are being taken to implement geospatial analysis. These include dynamic analysis and spatial comparison of Corona, Landsat ETM, and aerial photography techniques, DGPS mapping and mapping of Imperial mausoleums and Chang'an, laser scanning of the Maolin Mausoleum area, and three-dimensional reconstruction of the ancient landscape of the Western Han Dynasty.

The last section was presented by D. Dayalan, one of the organizers of the current conference, Director of the Archaeological Survey of India for the state of Tamilnadu, "Using remote data collection and GIS for the development and preservation of Agra's cultural heritage". In particular, it provided a list of measures for the development and preservation of cultural heritage sites. These are the creation of databases and digitized topographic maps of monuments and adjacent territories, including ancient settlements, etc.; measurement and monitoring of all damage or other changes in the ecosystem surrounding protected objects; creation of basic maps for the development of a master plan for the development of the objects themselves and adjacent territories; review and monitoring of natural objects; development of a system of measures in case of natural disasters and monitoring of river pollution, etc.

The second day of the conference began with a presentation by Y. Subbarayalu, Head of the Indology Department of the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) on "The use of electronic mapping by Indian archaeologists". Subbarayalu is considered to be one of the pioneers of computer mapping in Indian historical science. The report was replete with many examples, in particular, the periodization of Mesolithic cultures in South India was demonstrated.

M. B. Rajani and S. Settara, PhD students of the Indian Institute of Science Campus Bengaluru, made an interesting presentation on "Using multispectral remote photography to identify the location of defensive walls in ancient settlements of South India" in the section "Aerial Archaeology: Aerial photography and aerial scanning". Multispectral photography was used to determine the location of dried-up or filled-in ditches along the defensive walls of ancient settlements in Beluru, Halebidu and Somanthapur, dating back to the period of the Hoysal dynasty, when the principle of regular urban planning was adhered to. The authors expect to apply this method to other archaeological sites as well.

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A number of interesting presentations were read out in the section "Remote data collection in three dimensions: cyberarchaeology and landscape visualization in time".

An employee of the St. George's Fort Museum (Chennai, Archaeological Survey of India), P. S. Sriraman, made a report on the creation of a digital archive of photographs of murals in the Brihadishvara Temple in Thanjavur, erected during the reign of Rajaraja I (985-1014) of the Chola dynasty. The frescoes are located in a remote area of the temple, where there is no natural light and it is almost impossible to use artificial light. The speaker described in detail the technique of scanning murals and subsequent image processing. Currently, art historians can work with these high-resolution images anywhere in the world.

N. S. Nalini and M. B. Rajani, PhD students of the Indian Institute of Science Campus Bengaluru, described a technique for obtaining high-precision local references when mapping historical, including archaeological, objects. The description was based on the example of Chitradurga (202 km north-east of Bengaluru), which consists of a fortress located on a rocky hill and dates back to the XVI century. Many temples, monuments and other historical sites are located in the fortress and in the city. When creating GIS, satellite photography and existing maps were used in combination with ground-based data monitoring. GPS survey methods were used to connect the three-level information.

A team of researchers from Brown University, the University of North Carolina, and Tel Aviv University, led by K. Galor (Brown University) and D. H. Sanders (President of the History Visualization and Learning Sites Institute), presented the report "Semi-automated Data Collection and Image Processing: New Approaches to Interactive three-dimensional models." The report describes the initial stage of work on the project "Apollonia-Arsuf" - a large settlement of the VI century BC - XIII century. on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, 15 km north of modern Tel Aviv. The site's architectural monuments consist of a Roman villa, a Byzantine temple, an early Islamic market street, and a Crusader castle. It is planned to reconstruct the Crusader castle, amphorae, and glass products in virtual reality, using a new method of data collection and processing.

The report of a group of scientists from the University of California (Merced), Stanford University and the Institute of Applied Technologies in the Field of Culture (Rome) under the leadership of M. Forte was devoted to the problems of three-dimensional documentation and interpretation of data in the preparation of a project to create a virtual museum of the Western Han Dynasty. The project is planned to be implemented in at least two installations: one will be deployed in Xi'an, the administrative center of the Chinese Prov. Shaanxi (in ancient times-the capital of China), and the other - in California. The report demonstrated the main technologies and methods used by specialists of the University of California (Merced) to obtain high-precision three-dimensional images of wall paintings found in tombs, archaeological sites, landscapes and museum exhibits.

One of the most numerous speakers was the section "Management of cultural and natural resources of archaeological sites: problems of sustainability, practicality and organization of work with objects of cultural and historical heritage". Most of the reports were devoted to the study of Indian monuments.

R. Anupadma and M. S. Mathews (Civil Engineering Division, Indian Institute of Technology) were the first to read out. India, Madras-Chennai) on the problems of maintaining documentation of damage to the coastal temple in Mahabalipuram. The temple is an object of world cultural and historical heritage. Located at the very edge of the ocean, it is inevitably exposed to intense natural forces-wind and salt corrosion. Damage is recorded, counted, categorized, and mapped using metigo MAP 2.2 technology.

The report, " Forgotten Heritage: Managing Prehistoric India's Cultural Resources," was prepared by researchers from the University of New Delhi's Center for Educational Heritage. RRSSC, Bengaluru, and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The authors ' attention is focused on the problem of the disappearance of prehistoric objects due to the lack of broad awareness, rapid development of technologies and environmental changes, inadequate legislation and general indifference. It is proposed to organize emergency work on the preservation of several hundred objects of" non-documentary " heritage identified by the method

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satellite reconnaissance in the territory of North Tamilnadu with an area of more than 8 thousand square kilometers, as well as work on detecting such objects throughout the state. In addition, it is proposed to involve a wide range of the public in this activity, as well as to make specific changes to the existing legislation.

D. Dayalan spoke about the problems of preserving and developing the Taj Mahal. The author, who for several years served as the head of the Archaeological Survey of India for the Agra region, gave a detailed overview of the measures taken to preserve the monument and prevent its damage from environmental impact.1
K. K. Ramamoorthy and K. P. Mohandas (Archaeological Survey of India. Kerala and Tamilnadu) reported on the Matancherry Palace (XVI-XVII centuries), the former residence of the Maharajas of Cochin, the problems of its authentic preservation and development as an object of national heritage.

P. J. Cherian, a member of the Kerala Historical Research Council (Thiruvananthapuram), V. Selvakumar, a member of the Department of Epigraphy and Archaeology at the Tamil University of Thanjavur, and K. P. Shajan, a member of the Embassy of India in the United Kingdom, presented an interesting report on the results of excavations conducted in 2007 and 2008 in the Pattanam area of the Malabar coast of India. According to the hypothesis of archaeologists, they managed to find the legendary port of Miziris, through which the Roman Empire's trade with India was carried out. The excavations undertaken by the Kerala Historical Research Council are supported by many research institutes both inside and outside India, as well as specialists in history, archaeology, geology, paleobotany, paleozoology, physical anthropology, geophysics, chemistry, underwater archaeology, chemical oceanography, metallurgy, epigraphy and historic preservation. and the environment.

A team from the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), the Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, Allahabad University, and the Archaeological Survey of India reported on the creation of a geospatial database of Ahichchhatra, an archaeological site of national significance in Bareilly District, Uttar Pradesh, using geoinformation technologies. The work was organized in five stages: preliminary data processing; field work; subsequent processing of data collected in the field; compilation of a geospatial database; analysis and interpretation of the database. The authors gave a detailed description of the methodology for compiling the database (using images from Google Earth and SRTM data, the GPRS system, satellite images obtained using LISS-III, LISS-IV sensors, etc.).

T. Satyamurthy, Director of the Foundation for Rural Education in the Field of Archeology and Cultural Heritage of India, spoke about the excavations he conducted in 2004-2005 in Adicchanalur, an ancient settlement of the 2nd millennium BC, located in the Tirunelveli district, in the southern state of Tamilnadu. The first excavations of the settlement, conducted in 1904 by Alexander Pea, revealed a surprising similarity of many finds with similar artifacts found in settlements of the Indus Valley civilization. T. Satyamurti discovered several hundred burials made in urns made of red and black ceramics, which date back to about the XVIII century BC and have similarities with urns made of red ceramics found in the Indus Valley. The similarity between archaeological cultures can be traced both in the technique of casting ornaments from metal, and in the use of arsenic as an alloying additive (in other archaeological cultures of India, the use of arsenic in metallurgy was not found).

W. Gilad, T. Denham, and A. Sutton (School of Geography and Environmental Sciences. Monash University. Australia) made a presentation on "Cultural heritage management and digital use in Papua New Guinea: applying the aggregate evidence method to create an archaeological prediction model". The authors proceeded from the position that Papua New Guinea still remains one of the few parts of the world that have not been explored in archaeological and ecological terms. The intrusion of modern technology into such places threatens the preservation of many cultural heritage sites. The authors of the report tried to find the relationship between already known objects and the natural environment by field surveys combined with the construction of models, using the method noted above. Initially, a predictive model of the knowledge base was created to determine the likely areas where archaeological sites might be found. After

1 See: Dr. Duraiswamy Dayalan. Taj Mahal: Conservation and Management // Electronic libraries and databases on the history of Eurasia in the Middle Ages. Issue No. 13. Moscow, 2009, pp. 71-82.

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For field surveys, a different model was created in early 2008. Both were compared and their accuracy was evaluated.

A group of teachers and students from the Thi'agarajara College of Engineering (Madurai) demonstrated a model of an image search engine based on the analysis of their content. The authors proposed a variant of the descriptor that, based on the combination of color and complex image data, could compare them with image descriptors stored in the database.

R. S. Srinivasan (Avadi College of Engineering, Chennai) spoke on biological causes of monument damage. These include animals, birds, insects, trees and plants, as well as representatives of microfauna and microflora. The most serious threat is the impact of microorganisms on stone and rock structures. R. S. Srinivasan calls for monitoring the largest and most significant historical sites exposed to biological factors, using modern data collection tools such as electronic scanning microscopes, etc.

The last speech of the section was delivered by T. K. V. Rajan, Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Science Monitor, on the role of mass communication in stimulating the movement for the protection of India's cultural heritage.

Most of the reports of the section "Development of a unified technology for remote data collection for the interpretation of landscape ecosystems: comparison of detail scales" were based on Indian material.

Report by S. M. Menon (Department of Architecture, Manipal Institute of Technology) and M. N. Vakhia (Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Foundation Institute. research. Tata Financial and Industrial Group) "The role of remote data collection in the study of megalithic astronomy" contained preliminary results of surveys of megalithic sites (there are about 3 thousand of them) discovered in South India. When conducting an archaeological survey of objects that have not yet been identified, the authors place high hopes on the method of remote data collection.

D. Dayalan, who has already spoken at the first and third sections, presented a report on the digitization of documentation on Buddhist sites in Tamilnadu. Almost everything related to Buddhism that was excavated in the state under the direction of D. Dayalan was documented, including burials, sculptures, bronze products, inscriptions and paintings. The following entry structure was adopted: location, material, general description, date, degree of preservation, detailed photo, placement of Buddhist objects on the map, bibliography.

A. Anil Kumar and N. Anil Kumar (Archaeological Survey of India, Chennai) presented two presentations to the audience: "Mapping and digitizing Tamilnadu rock-cut architectural structures from the point of view of type-technological aspects and adaptation to the environment" and " Exploring the structure of an ancient settlement in Kanchipuram using digital mapping-by example digital documentation of Kailasanath Temple". In the first report, the researchers focused on the typological and technological aspects of the description of rock-cut architectural structures of the Pallava and Pandya dynasties, as well as on the geographical distribution of rock-cut caves in Tamilnadu. The map was prepared using a GPS coordinate reference system, as well as taking into account environmental and environmental factors that affect the features of creating cave temples in certain places. An attempt was made to convert the prepared map into a" satellite " view in order to assess the geomorphological nature of the area. For the second report, the authors prepared a series of maps depicting the structure of the Kanchipuram settlement. The maps were arranged in chronological order based on archaeological and architectural data. GPS coordinates were linked to map objects belonging to the Pallava period and then interpreted.

S. S. Rai (Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, Allahabad University) spoke about the integrated application of digital technologies to archaeological research of settlements in the area of Kaushambi (or Kosambi) - the fortified capital of the ancient Mahajanapada of Vats, located on the banks of the Yamuna River about 35 km above its confluence with the Ganges, which reached its peak at the time of The Buddhas. Currently, many archaeological sites of different times are concentrated here. The author presented information about the location of objects in space and time both inside and outside the fortifications, and then compared it

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with data obtained by satellite photography and then visualizing them in GIS, which made it possible to track changes in the settlement system in the region.

Message X. Prabha Raya (History Center) research. J. Nehru University. New Delhi) was titled "Archaeology of Ritual Spaces: Satellite Photography and Early Chalukya Temples". The author set two goals: to determine the cultural landscape formed by temples of various religions erected in the Malaprabha River valley during the Chalukyas ' rule, and to trace the interaction of various forms of architecture. The study used high-resolution satellite photography data. H. Prabha Rai described the prehistory of temples and their excavations and drew attention to the proximity of places of worship to water sources, which provided a connection between sacred and secular principles.

D. Evans (Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney) - Remote data collection in the archaeology of Cambodia. Remote data collection using high-resolution satellite photography has been carried out since the 1966s, along with digitization and geo-referencing of traditional sources such as historical maps, archaeological surveys, and epigraphic evidence. Recently, a survey of the monuments of the Angkor period (Bantei Chmar, Koh Ker, Preah Khan Kompong Swaya) has begun, which will allow us to make a substantive assessment of the degree of urbanization of the Khmer Empire, the role of hydraulic systems and the environment in the process of its rise and fall.

The sessions of the section" Digitized historical and Cultural atlases (projects and prototypes) and their components (geographical and chronological reference books, biographical indexes and social media reference books, thesauri, technological infrastructure, associative information sources and model representation) " began with the presentation of the Digital Historical Atlas of South India, created by the French Institute in Pondicherry with the support of the Ford Foundation. The chronological framework of the Atlas is from prehistory to the end of the 16th century; geographically, it covers the entire states of Tamilnadu and Kerala and two test areas in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The presentation described the technical parameters of the Atlas and demonstrated its capabilities.

To. Rajan (Department of History, University of Pondicherry) delivered a paper on mapping the archaeological sites of Tamilnadu, in which he attempted to provide a documentary and historiographical overview of archaeological research and discoveries carried out in the state over the past century.

A group of researchers from the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), the Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology at the University of Allahabad, and the Archaeological Survey of India focused on the problems of documentation and visualization of archaeological data. The authors propose to introduce a widespread system of cultural resource management in India. This involves digitizing all available archaeological documentation.

P. Sumbala (K. P. Ramaswamy Ayyar Institute of Indology) considered the problems of dynamic mapping of community migration on the example of Andhradesh and Tamilagamu from the VI to the XVI century. A series of dynamic maps with heterogeneous layers was created, reflecting such factors of community migration as changes in the political situation, economic and social conditions, climate changes, cultural development (linguistics, art), and religious aspects.

A group of Russian researchers from St. Petersburg State University led by S. B. Shchigorets and V. M. Grishkin demonstrated their tools for creating digital atlases of the state of historical monuments. This project is a continuation of the research that was presented at the third ECAI Congress: "Space and Time in Eurasia", held in Moscow in May 2007.*

The ECAI section "Historical and Cultural Atlas of remote data collection: creating an information portal" presented reports prepared by employees of the Pondicherry branch of the French School for the Study of the Far East (EFEO). One of the reports reported on archaeological expeditions conducted by EFEO in the state of Tamilnadu. In addition a group of researchers led by V. Gilet prodemon-

* See: S. B. Shchigorets, A. A. Doos, A. P. Zhabko, V. M. Grishkin. Technique "Consolidator": analysis of digital images for reconstruction of ancient monuments and creation of atlases / / Electronic libraries and databases on the history of Eurasia in the Middle Ages. Issue No. 13. Moscow, 2009, pp. 264-279.

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I streamed a database of digitized photographs depicting inscriptions found in Southern India, mainly in the state of Tamilnadu. The project was supported by the Ford Foundation.

The conference was concluded with a report by A. A. Stolyarov (Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences)"Chronological aspects of the functioning of the complex of North Indian Early Medieval epigraphic sources". In fact, it was a presentation of the database of North Indian early medieval letters of commendation (ZHG) created by him, called the "Diplomatika Indica Database" (DIDB). The database has a web-based interface and consists of several main and secondary interconnected tables. To date, there are two main tables: Copperplates, which has more than 1,250 entries, and Publications, which has more than 3,250 entries. Information is entered in the Copperplates table for more than 30 fields, and in the Publications table for eight fields. The author described in detail the information fields of both tables and demonstrated the nature of the distribution of LH in time-from IV to XIII centuries inclusive and in space - on the territory of the North Indian states, as well as a number of northern districts of the states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The study makes it possible to identify new groups of texts within the database, depending on the specified criteria (textual, formal, spatial, dynastic, etc.), compare them with each other, and establish new relationships between different parts. All this should bring closer an understanding of the historical processes that gave rise to the emergence of LJ as a specific group of texts and determine their evolution in different parts of North India during the entire period of the early Middle Ages (IV-XIII centuries).

The conference was covered by the Indian media-television and the press. Articles about her have appeared in the English-language Hindu and New Indian Express and the Tamil-language Dina Malar, Dina Karan and Dina Thanthi.

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