In 1924 Professor Kelsey embarked on a series of excavations in the Mediterranean and the Near East. Papyri, pottery, glass, coins, and textiles excavated from the provincial Graeco-Roman town of Karanis, Egypt, (the so-called "Pompeii of Egypt") entered the collections in vast numbers. Approximately 45,000 items from Karanis reside in the Museum. Primarily objects of daily life, they offer an unusual window onto village life in the Roman provinces. Between 1928 and 1937, University excavations at the Hellenistic site, Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, Iraq, yielded 10,000 artifacts including pottery, coins, terracotta figurines, beads, carved architectural fragments, bronze, bone, and gold items. The preservation and publication of this unique collection of artifacts is an ongoing project that involves professors and graduate students from Michigan and the international scholarly community.

The Kelsey has since taken part in expeditions to Sepphoris, Palestine; The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai; Qasr al-Hayr, Syria; Apollonia, Lybia; Cyrene, Libya; Dibsi Faraj, Syria; Carthage, Tunisia; Leptiminus, Tunisia; Tel Anafa, Israel; Paestum, Italy; Pylos, Greece; Soknopaiou Nesos (Dime), Terenouthis, and Coptos, Egypt. While the focus of these more recent archaeological projects is no longer the enlargement of the Museum's collections per se, they have provided an impressive and growing archive of photographs, maps, and field notes.

The following list of sites represents completed excavations which are archived in the Kelsey Museum. As other excavations are completed, published, and archived, related information will be included in this resource.

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Kelsey Museum Field Projects


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