The data presented here were collected in the course of an archaeological survey of the region around Vani in the Republic of Georgia, carried out between 2009 and 2011, with follow-up visits in 2014 and 2017. The survey was sponsored by the University of Michigan, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, and the Otar Lordkipanidze Institute of Archaeological Research in Tbilisi. , The archaeological site of Vani lies in the territory of ancient Colchis, a triangular area bordered by the Black Sea to the west and by the greater and lesser Caucasus Mountains to the north and south – famous in Greek legend as the land of the Golden Fleece and the home of Medea. Vani itself is situated approximately 70 km inland, in the foothills of the lesser Caucasus. A regional culture recognizable on the evidence of distinctive traditions of pottery and metalworking and the appearance of a network of relatively large settlements had emerged in Colchis by the late second and early first millennia BC. , Vani is one of the most extensively studied archaeological sites in Colchis. Excavations have revealed a continuous occupation sequence extending from the 8th to the 1st centuries B.C. Especially notable are the rich and unusual graves of the Classical period (6th-4th centuries), the monumental stone architecture of the Hellenistic period (3rd to 1st centuries), especially fortifications enclosing an area of approximately 6 ha, and the extensive evidence for interaction with the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds, including not only commercial and luxury imports (Greek transport amphorae, fine bronze and silver utensils from both the Greek world and Persia), but also local production of bronze sculpture and one long Greek bronze inscription., In spite of the richness of the site, however, important questions about its purpose and function over time remain unresolved. How extensive was the ancient settlement? Was Vani an isolated stronghold, a regional population center, a sanctuary, or a combination of two or all three? How does it compare with other sites in Colchis? In addition to ongoing research at Vani itself, regional survey provides an obvious approach to some of these questions. In previous years, examination of a number of outlying sites had already yielded remains extending in date from the Early Bronze Age to the mediaeval period., and The purpose of the regional survey project begun in 2009 was to integrate existing knowledge about Vani and environs into the kind of technological and conceptual framework characteristic of contemporary American survey archaeology. Of particular importance was the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as an organizational and analytical tool, and of geophysical prospection both in the immediate environs of Vani and at regional sites. Like all regional surveys, our project recorded evidence of all periods, from prehistory to the present day, but we were particularly interested in questions having to do with the increasing social complexity of Colchis in the mid- and later 1st millennium BC – when Greek explorers began to establish colonies on the Black Sea coast of Georgia, and the Persian empire pushed up against the mountains of the Caucasus. What was the nature of Colchian society in this period? How was it affected by interaction with the larger Greek, Persian, and Pontic worlds? And how can regional survey at Vani and throughout Colchis help us to address these questions?
Building on previous research (Cuyler, A., Carruthers, M., Imbesi, J. 2023. “Cultural Policy of the Oppressed” [Data set], University of Michigan - Deep Blue Data. https://doi.org/10.7302/9e20-zg88), we performed a qualitative textual analysis of three related areas of oppression, colonialism, expansionism, and imperialism, and how they have been discussed within cultural policy research. The analysis focused on three major cultural policy journals, Cultural Trends, the Journal of Arts Management, Society, and Law, and the International Journal of Cultural Policy.
The work on the Bangime language, spoken by the Bangande people, was carried out as part of a larger linguistic fieldwork project focused on Dogon languages. Bangime is confirmed as a language isolate with no demonstrable linguistic relatives—possibly the only such isolate in West Africa.
we conducted an emergent qualitative systematic content analysis of scholarship published in Cultural Trends, the International Journal of Cultural Policy, and the Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society since the peer-reviewed journals’ inceptions.
For content see the "notes" file inside the work. Most of the recordings are translated and annotated at the end of the reference grammar (see link to Deep Blue Documents).
these and other recordings are data for a reference grammar of Kelenga that, when completed, will be archived in the collection "Bozo languages of Mali (documents)" in Deep Blue Documents. For contents see the "notes" file inside the work. A few of the Kelenga texts are being transcribed, others will be left for others to transcribe or listen to as they wish.
recordings made in Barato village. Referred to as "text 2021-02" and "text 2021-03." Text 2021-03 is transcribed and annotated at the end of the reference grammar (see link to Deep Blue Documents). Text 2021-02 covers a subset of the same content and has not been transcribed as of late 2022. See also "notes" file inside the work.
A subset of the Kelenga recordings are being transcribed and will serve as data for the Kelenga reference grammar which, when finished, will be included in the collection "Bozo languages of Mali (documents)" in Deep Blue Documents (see link).
Data includes information regarding session notes from sixty-three institutions, including blank session note forms, data sets of completed session notes, and survey data about how sessions notes are conceived of, and used, in writing centers.
