ANME 386 - Karanis: The Archaeology of a Roman Egyptian Town

The Roman Egyptian town of Karanis, first excavated by the University of Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s, remains one of the most important archaeological sites for understanding aspects of daily life in Egypt during the Roman and Byzantine periods (30 BCE to 641 CE). These excavations were remarkable for the time, but were never fully published, and the excavation techniques employed at the time have made a reconstruction of the site’s chronology difficult. As a result, our understanding of the site remains incomplete, and numerous questions abound. This course focuses on specific issues in the analysis and interpretation of archaeological and textual data from Karanis, and uses the site as a means of exploring the archaeology of Roman Egypt, its culture, and the nature of daily life in Egypt under Roman rule. In the course, we will focus on, among other things, the archaeology of houses and households; the effect of abandonment on archaeological deposits; problems of chronology and dating; archaeologies of religion; and papyrological texts as archaeological artifacts. Students will also gain experience working with and interpreting legacy archaeological data.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): One from ANME 370 - 379, or from ANME 380 - 389, or ANTH 201 - Decolonizing Archaeology.
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.