TEXT AND CONTEXT IN THE ARCHIVE OF TIBERIANUS
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records should be studied afresh and with an open mind.5 In the
case of the archive of Tiberianus there is even more reason to take
this approach, because the study of the original excavation notes by
one of the authors revealed that there were sixteen additional papyri discovered in the same house, many of which were from the
same locus as the papyri belonging to the archive of Tiberianus.
These new papyri-their publication is in progress-shed further
light on the archive, adding to its external context.6
Architecture
The papyri that came to be known as the archive of Tiberianus
were found in house B167, that is, in the "B" level of house 167.
(Plate 5) The excavators of Karanis distinguished five levels, with
the A-Level being the uppermost, and B-Level through E-Level below. Excavators believed that these levels were persistent over the
entirety of the site. Van Minnen has demonstrated some of the
problems with this approach, as it does not account for the development of individual houses, streets, and blocks.7 Reconstruction of
the occupation phases of each house should instead be predicated
on the individual structure; we can read the history of a single
house through its successive layers.
House B167, and its predecessor, House C167, are well documented in the excavation records currently held at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan. These documents include numerous photographs of both the architecture and
finds, as well as semi-detailed floor-plans. Smaller scale maps of
house B167 permit it to be viewed in relation to the entire site, and
profile maps connect the house to the vertical stratigraphy of Karanis as a whole, allowing stratigraphical comparison with neighboring structures.
5 Cf. N. Pollard, "The Chronology and Economic Condition of Late Roman
Karanis: An Archaeological Reassessment," JARCE 35 (1998) 147-62.
6 A. Verhoogt and R.P. Stephan, The House of Claudius Tiberianus. Text and
Artifact from House C/B167 in Roman Karanis (forthcoming).
7 See van Minnen, op.cit. (above, n. 4)
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