Publication date: 
2018/07/09
Under the leadership of prof. Miroslav Bárta, the Czech Institute of Egyptology at Charles University has long been developing research on the dynamics of the development of complex societies based on the study of anatomy of the internal dynamics of ancient Egyptian civilization. Since 2006 major activities in this field include the creation and intensive implementation of the database of officials buried in Abusir and adjacent burial grounds in Sakkara and Giza and other selected locations under the guidance of Dr. Veronika Dulíková. Due to the scope of the database, it was necessary to find methods that can handle fragmented information. At this stage, the researchers of Charles University teamed up with experts from CTU, namely Ing. Radek Marík from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Gradually, the Egyptology and Cybernetics team succeeded in applying several methods of cybernetics and artificial intelligence, and gained support at the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic for the project "Methods of Complex Networks Applied to the Data of Ancient Egypt in the Age of the Old Kingdom (2700 - 2180 BC)". The main objective of the project is a new approach to processing and interpretation of available data from the period of pyramid builders and the use of semi-automated methods in their processing. A new scientific field of cyber-egyptology was defined by this project.

Ancient Egyptian civilization has developed in a nonlinear manner based on the theory of intermittent equilibrium. This is confirmed by archaeological research by Czech Egyptologists. Major changes in development of society have taken place, as in the so-called Velvet Revolution or the Arab Spring. To shade light on the detailed mechanism of these processes, a large and world-unique database began to emerge. At present, there are about five thousand officials, their titles and family relationships. First, however, it was necessary to unify the data collected from disparate sources. The technique of artificial intelligence and analysis of complex networks was used to process records. Reconstruction of families and family relations, nepotism and the real influence of so-called interest groups in the society served to work with uncertainty and logic. The analysis of the inheritance of offices and functions is based on fairly simple but effective networking techniques and the so-called data mining method. In addition, various visualization options for family trees have been implemented. The application of the theory of hidden Markov models revealed details of the country's governance transformation during the 5th Dynasty. Theory of information has helped to detect strategic titles and powerful dignitaries who have gained considerable influence.

Scientists have had to overcome not only a lot of communication barriers, but also different approaches to scientific work and publishing.

A chapter on the research is now being written the newly prepared book, which will bring readers closer to the application of basic principles of cybernetics in an unusual domain, such as egyptology.

Following media informed about the new scientific field: CT24.czfrekvence1.czlidovky.cztyden.cz, or denik.cz