The Karanis Collaboratory unites researchers to study the ancient village of Karanis in Egypt from multidisciplinary perspectives. This village, excavated by the University of Michigan between 1924 and 1935 is one of the best documented archaeological sites from the Roman world. Tens of thousands of the finds (artifacts and texts) are present on the University of Michigan campus, as well as thousands of documents, maps, and photographs produced during the excavations. These data have previously been studied in a piecemeal fashion. Our Collaboratory Development Grant will permit a holistic approach to data from two structures, C65 and C137. A long-term goal is the creation of the Karanis Research Portal, an online discovery tool containing digitized maps, plans, artifact records, photographs excavation notebooks, and other records in the University’s archives. We envision the Research Portal as a tool that could be used by scholars, by students in undergraduate or graduate classes, and, due to the popularity of both archaeology and ancient Egypt, by the general public.
