Papyrus definition geology7/23/2023 “We also have a great many papyri from elsewhere in the Fayyum, including about 150 papyri from the Archive of Zenon, which is largest ancient archive to survive. It also gave us thousands of documents of great significance, such as the Karanis Tax Rolls from 171-175 AD, which allow us to reconstruct the population and demographics of the village during these years.” “As for the papyri, Karanis gave us many fragments of Greek literature, including pieces of Homer’s Iliadand Odysseyand Hesiod’s Works and Days and Theogony. late 1920’s University of Michigan in Karanis, the Fayyum, Egypt (photo courtesy of U of M) If you visit the Kelsey museum, you’ll see that they have everything from wooden artifacts to foodstuffs, perfectly preserved!”Ĭ. Fortunately, the desert margins of the Fayyum, where Karanis is located, are hyper-arid, so perishable organic material like papyri are well-preserved in an almost laboratory-perfect environment. “Over 11 seasons, we acquired thousands of papyri and other artifacts, which we split with the Egyptian government. And it turned out to be even more productive than we could have imagined.” So, we knew that excavation in the Fayyum was likely to be very fruitful. In fact, a major find of papyri from the region’s central capital city had been dispersed to Paris, Berlin, and Vienna in 1887-88. “ The Fayyum was at that time already well-known to antiquities dealers and European academic institutions as major source of papyri. Located in Middle Egypt on the northeastern margins of the Fayyum, Karanis is known for producing mass quantities of Graeco-Roman antiquities, which offer great insight into everyday life in a country village.” “With this in mind, Michigan obtained permission from the Egyptian government to excavate the ancient Graeco-Roman village of Karanis for eleven seasons, from 1924-1935. Controlling the circumstances of recovery is therefore extremely important.” “Since dealers never kept accurate records of where they acquired their papyri, we rarely if ever, have good provenance for texts acquired on the antiquities market. After that, U of M continued to purchase texts on the Egyptian antiquities market, many from the famed Egyptian antiquities dealer Maurice Nahman.” “All of Michigan’s papyrus came from Egypt and our Papyrus Collection began with the purchase of 534 papyri, which was curated by Kelsey himself. If you’re interested in Michigan’s history of antiquities collection and archaeology, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology here on campus is a great place to visit.” Also, because more people were exposed to Greek, Latin, and the Classics in school during this period, and there was rather more popular interest in the recovery of ancient texts on papyri than there is today. “Although Kelsey died in 1927, there was still a great deal of money available during this period, particularly before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, so we were able to continue acquiring papyri until the 1940’s. Because Ann Arbor was so far from the Mediterranean, Kelsey wanted to bring back antiquities for students at his Midwestern public university to study.” He was a Latin professor and polymath, interested in everything from music to archaeology. “The University of Michigan’s Papyrology Collection was founded in 1920 by Francis Willey Kelsey. Papyrology, the study of handwritten texts on papyrus and other writing surfaces, is a specialized sub-discipline within Classical Studies.” It lasted 4,000 years, until being phased out by parchment and paper. “ Papyrus was used from the fourth millennium BC to around 1000 AD. University of Michigan Papyrology Collection with Brendan Haug (photo by: Ryan M.
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