The Archaelogical Institute of America (AIA) Central Missouri Society is co-sponsoring with the Classics, Archaeology, and Religion (CAR) Department a guest lecture by Dr. Tyler Johnson on November 6th at 5:30 pm with a reception beforehand at 5pm in the Ellis Library auditorium. Dr. Johnson will be presenting “Archive Archaeology at Karanis: Recontextualizing the Mighigan Documentation in Three Dimensions”, and he will be exploring the challenges and possibilities of conducting “archive archaeology” at Karansis, creating new tools for exploring, cross-referencing, and reinterpreting this essential legacy dataset.

Although far from modern standards, the University of Michigan excavations at Karanis (1924–1935) employed advanced recording techniques for their time. Documenting the site’s evolution through a system of “levels,” the excavators left behind a dense archival record of photographs, tables, notes, drawings, plans, artifact inventories, and survey results. Housed at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, this documentation has been consulted for a century but never systematically analyzed or disseminated. The most authoritative source remains an unfinished manuscript by Enoch Peterson (professor at Michigan from 1924–1962), never published or made publicly available.

Today, a revival of interest in Karanis has created a demand for better curation and accessibility of these records. In response, researchers at the Kelsey Museum are leading a digital initiative with two objectives. First, drawing upon legacy survey data and new radiocarbon results, we are using the game engine Unity to reconstruct and reinterpret the site’s chronological evolution in three dimensions. Second, we are transforming Peterson’s manuscript and related materials into an interactive, open-access resource. These collaborative efforts between Kelsey researchers, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students go beyond digitization, requiring the restructuring and reassessment of excavation data within an updated framework.

As we integrate new insights and methodologies, our work sometimes calls the Michigan excavators’ original interpretations into question. This raises the need to balance faithful preservation of archival materials with that of reassessing the excavation results through contemporary archaeological lenses. This paper explores the challenges and possibilities of conducting “archive archaeology” at Karanis, creating new tools for exploring, cross-referencing, and reinterpreting this essential legacy dataset.