| --- |
| license: other |
| license_name: glyphdataset-non-commercial |
| pretty_name: HieroglyphBench |
| task_categories: |
| - image-to-text |
| tags: |
| - ocr |
| - hieroglyphs |
| - egyptology |
| - gardiner |
| size_categories: |
| - n<1K |
| configs: |
| - config_name: default |
| data_files: |
| - split: test |
| path: test/* |
| --- |
| |
| # HieroglyphBench |
|
|
| An OCR benchmark for ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: 30 photographed columns of |
| hieroglyphs from the Pyramid of Unas (11-26 signs each), each paired with an |
| expert transcription of the signs as [Gardiner sign-list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardiner%27s_sign_list) |
| codes. The task is to read the signs in the image, in order. |
|
|
| Writeup and leaderboard: https://boggs.tech/posts/reading-hieroglyphs-with-vlms/ |
|
|
| Code and evaluation harness: https://github.com/JakeBoggs/HieroglyphBench |
|
|
| ## Examples |
|
|
| <table> |
| <tr><td align="center"><b>Photo</b></td><td><b>Ground-truth signs</b></td></tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td align="center"><img src="https://huggingface.co/datasets/jakeboggs/HieroglyphBench/resolve/main/test/unas-p20-c3-2.png" height="210"></td> |
| <td valign="middle"><img src="https://huggingface.co/datasets/jakeboggs/HieroglyphBench/resolve/main/assets/unas-p20-c3-2_signs.png" width="340"><br><sub><code>D21 G17 O4 D21 G43 N5 Q3 N35 G17 M17 D4 E23</code></sub></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td align="center"><img src="https://huggingface.co/datasets/jakeboggs/HieroglyphBench/resolve/main/test/unas-p7-c12-2.png" height="210"></td> |
| <td valign="middle"><img src="https://huggingface.co/datasets/jakeboggs/HieroglyphBench/resolve/main/assets/unas-p7-c12-2_signs.png" width="340"><br><sub><code>D46 V4 N14 S29 N35 V13 G43 G17 D21 N35 V31 G43 Q3 N35</code></sub></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td align="center"><img src="https://huggingface.co/datasets/jakeboggs/HieroglyphBench/resolve/main/test/unas-p22-c8-1.png" height="210"></td> |
| <td valign="middle"><img src="https://huggingface.co/datasets/jakeboggs/HieroglyphBench/resolve/main/assets/unas-p22-c8-1_signs.png" width="430"><br><sub><code>G17 E34 N35 M17 S29 M18 M17 G17 E34 N35 M17 S29 M18 M17 G17 V31 E34 N35 M17 S29</code></sub></td> |
| </tr> |
| </table> |
|
|
| ## Columns |
|
|
| - `image` - the cropped photograph of the inscription column |
| - `id` - item id (`unas-p{plate}-c{col}-{chunk}`) |
| - `plate` - source plate and column |
| - `num_signs` - number of ground-truth signs |
| - `gardiner` - ordered list of Gardiner codes (the ground truth) |
| - `gardiner_str` - the same codes, space-joined |
| - `unicode` - the signs rendered as Unicode hieroglyphs (U+13000 block) |
|
|
| ## Source and license |
|
|
| Photographs and per-sign annotations come from Morris Franken's |
| [GlyphDataset](https://github.com/morrisfranken/glyphreader), derived from |
| Alexandre Piankoff's *The Pyramid of Unas* (1955) plates. Non-commercial use; |
| keep the Franken / Piankoff attribution. |
|
|
