Kelsey Publishes "Karanis Revealed"
by Peg Lourie
The Kelsey Museum has just published Karanis Revealed: Discovering the Past and Present of a Michigan Excavation in Egypt, edited by Curator for Graeco-Roman Egypt T. G. Wilfong.
From 1924 to 1935 a University of Michigan team excavated the Graeco-Roman period site of Karanis, a small agricultural village in Egypt. Their efforts yielded thousands of artifacts along with extensive archival records of their context. Wilfong's new book summarizes his 2011–2012 Kelsey exhibition "Karanis Revealed," which explored aspects of the site and its excavation in the 1920s and 1930s. It includes many previously unpublished artifacts, including fragments of Roman military armor, Christian amulets, and a hieroglyphic inscription from Karanis, as well as several unpublished archival photographs and images, including stills from the silent films of the Michigan Karanis expedition.
The volume also presents ongoing research inspired by the earlier excavations: new work on known artifacts and papyri, the discovery or rediscovery of important unpublished artifacts and archival sources, new field research at Karanis, and even sonic investigations of the site and its history. Contributors include Andrew W. S. Ferrara, Sebastián Encina, Adam P. Hyatt, Thomas Landvatter, Claudia Chemello, Jennifer Gates-Foster, R. James Cook, Andrew T. Wilburn, W. Graham Claytor, Rebecca A. Sears, and John Kannenberg.
Karanis Revealed is available at a discount in the Kelsey Museum Gift Shop, or it can be purchased online by clicking here.