The Book of the Dead-Project Bonn started in the early 1990s. Prof Ursula Rößler-Köhler, who had previously laid the foundation for modern Book of the Dead studies by her work on BD chapter 17 applying the method of textual criticism, achieved a 10-year funding from the German Research Society (DFG). In 2004 the project was granted another 9-year funding by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of North Rhine-Westphalia. One aim of the project was to gather all available evidence of Book of the Dead manuscripts spread across collections around the world. Today, the archive comprises approximately 3000 records of BD sources. In 2012 the corresponding database, after undergoing a transfer from FileMaker to XML format in collaboration with the department of e-Humanities at the University of Cologne, was launched and made publicly available online. The data sets include various different kinds of information about the objects and the sets of BD spells and vignettes found on them. These are now easily accessible for statistic analyses such as evaluations of neighbouring spells and sequences or occurrences in specific locations or time periods. Furthermore, the database includes several metadata such as bibliographical information, translations of spells and a motif index. It is cross connected with other Egyptological databases such as Trismegistos and the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae. After the project was completed at the end of 2012, the online database has been operating for a considerable amount of time with scholars using it and trying the several opportunities it provides. Now is the time for a first evaluation to actually see which functions of the database work well, which might have been ignored by users and what information the database could provide scholars with for their actual research. Naturally, there is a need for a continuous maintenance and update on new findings and the latest research. Furthermore it is important to understand which possibly missing functions or information the users wish to be included and if this is actually realisable. On the other hand, there might be opportunities for analyses that have not been fully understood and therefore have not been made use of. This presentation aims to address some of these issues concerning the BD online database and to gather ideas and possible collaborators for future BD project plans.

The Book of the Dead-Project Bonn started in the early 1990s. Prof Ursula Rößler-Köhler, who had previously laid the foundation for modern Book of the Dead studies by her work on BD chapter 17 applying the method of textual criticism, achieved a 10-year funding from the German Research Society (DFG). In 2004 the project was granted another 9-year funding by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of North Rhine-Westphalia. One aim of the project was to gather all available evidence of Book of the Dead manuscripts spread across collections around the world. Today, the archive comprises approximately 3000 records of BD sources. In 2012 the corresponding database, after undergoing a transfer from FileMaker to XML format in collaboration with the department of e-Humanities at the University of Cologne, was launched and made publicly available online. The data sets include various different kinds of information about the objects and the sets of BD spells and vignettes found on them. These are now easily accessible for statistic analyses such as evaluations of neighbouring spells and sequences or occurrences in specific locations or time periods. Furthermore, the database includes several metadata such as bibliographical information, translations of spells and a motif index. It is cross connected with other Egyptological databases such as Trismegistos and the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae. After the project was completed at the end of 2012, the online database has been operating for a considerable amount of time with scholars using it and trying the several opportunities it provides. Now is the time for a first evaluation to actually see which functions of the database work well, which might have been ignored by users and what information the database could provide scholars with for their actual research. Naturally, there is a need for a continuous maintenance and update on new findings and the latest research. Furthermore it is important to understand which possibly missing functions or information the users wish to be included and if this is actually realisable. On the other hand, there might be opportunities for analyses that have not been fully understood and therefore have not been made use of. This presentation aims to address some of these issues concerning the BD online database and to gather ideas and possible collaborators for future BD project plans.