A groundbreaking article revisiting the history of the Graeco-Roman village of Karanis, Egypt, was recently published in the journal Antiquity. Written by Laura Motta, Tyler Duane Johnson, Shannon Burton, Paula J. Reimer, Paul Erdkamp, and Frits Heinrich, “Re-Dating Roman Karanis, Egypt: Radiocarbon Evidence for Prolonged Occupation until the Seventh Century AD” transforms our understanding of the site’s timeline and provides the “first absolute chronology for the settlement.” The article details how radiocarbon dating of crops found during the University of Michigan’s 1920s excavations reveals that Karanis was inhabited well into the 7th century—centuries beyond its previously believed abandonment. This new evidence situates Karanis in a dynamic era of change, reshaping narratives of the site’s physical and social landscape. Read the open-access article here.
