Karanis: three levels of a Graeco-Roman town

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

The excavation

According to the project page of the University of Michigan's Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, before the university began its excavation at Kom Aushim, "the site of ancient Karanis", the sebkheen, diggers for fertilizer, had plundered the mound looking for black dirt for their cotton crops. Yet these diggers had unearthed the glass and papyri that led the university expedition to believe the site would prove rich in archaeological material. The page lists the directors for 1924-1935: J. L. Starkey (1924-1925) and Enoch E. Peterson (1926-1935). Source 1.

Three levels

By the end of the second season, according to the page, the occupation levels were shown to cover foundations of houses belonging to the Ptolemaic period; houses from the mid-1st through the close of the 3rd ("Roman") century; and, at the top level, buildings representing the 4th and 5th "Christian centuries". "Areas and levels were dated by such evidence as papyri, ostraca, coins, and pottery." The page calls the place "this Graeco-Roman town" and "this Egyptian city between Ptolemaic and Christian times". Source 1.

Textiles, glass and coins

The page presents three assemblages. Lilian M. Wilson studied "more than 3,000 fabric samples found at Karanis" and, after determining the typical weaves, patterns and workmanship, was able to establish which pieces were of local and which of foreign manufacture. The rich glass finds offered a wide range of information on the history of glass; the page describes in it a "steady coarsening of decoration and technique" until Karanis evidence comes to an end in the 5th century. And the 27,000 coins documented in "Coins from Karanis" by R. A. Haatvedt and E. E. Peterson, in the page's words, "bear witness to the general economic plight of residents of Karanis". Source 1.

What a provincial town can teach

Karanis lets one ask everyday questions because houses, textiles, glass and coins were found there in dated levels. Wilson's study shows how such material separates the local from the imported, and the page reads the coins as evidence of an economic condition. But the page read is an overview of the project, not an excavation report: it gives no house plans, level numbers or links between a given find and a given house, and it does not say where the finds are today. The article therefore does not reconstruct family life or work in any particular house, and keeps to what the page summarizes. Source 1.

Placement on the timeline

The middle level, from the mid-first to the close of the third century, lies entirely within the site's Roman rule (30 BCE-330 CE), and the page assigns the lowest house level to the Ptolemaic period; the article is therefore placed in both periods. The top level, "the 4th and 5th Christian centuries", crosses the site's 330 CE line between Roman and Byzantine rule, so it is assigned to neither, and it is not trimmed. A book the page lists, "Guardians of the Nile: Sculptures from Karanis in the Fayoum (c. 250 BC-AD 450)", places Karanis in the Fayoum in its title and dates its sculptures to about 250 BCE-450 CE. Source 1.

Scope of reading: the project page "Karanis, Egypt" on the website of the University of Michigan's Kelsey Museum of Archaeology was read on 24 October 2026. The excavation reports and books the page lists, among them the topographical and architectural report on the seasons 1924-1928, were not read.