Expedition report, Nov. 12, 1924
Kom Aushim, located approximately 100 miles southwest of Cairo in the large Fayum Oasis, is the site of the ancient town of Karanis. The town was settled in the 3rd Century BCE during Egypt's Ptolemaic Period, and later expanded under Roman rule. However, the population of Karanis gradually began to decline in the late 3rd Century CE. Due to a drying climate and changes within the greater Roman Empire, the site was abandoned by the 5th Century.
Aerial photograph of Kom Aushim, 1924
Unlike many other ancient Egyptian towns, Karanis was not resettled at a later date, leaving the remains of the Graeco-Roman settlement relatively intact. However, from the mid-19th Century onward, farmers living nearby began visiting Kom Aushim to harvest its nutrient-rich soil, known as sebakh. Carting away large quantities of the fertile earth, these farmers severely scarred the landscape. In the process, they unwittingly uncovered many papyrus fragments from old Karanis, which they then often sold to interested collectors.
Journal entry from April 1, 1925
This papyrus trade drew some archaeologists to Kom Aushim in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. However, these early expeditions produced few interesting results, and most archaeologists assumed the site had been picked clean by sebakh harvesters. By the time Francis Kelsey arrived at Kom Aushim in 1924, further digging by local farmers had uncovered significantly more of the site. Kelsey believed that Karanis still had the potential to produce many interesting finds, and by the end of the year he had received approval from the University of Michigan to begin an ongoing excavation.