Emily Chan
In the world of archaeology, new discoveries are made every day. For instance, archaeologists have recently found that an ancient Greco-Roman town in Egypt survived longer than previously thought.
In the past, experts believed that the settlement was abandoned sometime in the middle of the 5th century, but new research reports that it was occupied until the 7th century.
The settlement is called Karanis, and it was an agricultural town located in the Faiyum Oasis. It was founded in the 3rd century B.C. when the ancient Greek Ptolemaic dynasty ruled over Egypt.
The kingdom lasted until it was conquered by the Romans in 30 B.C. At its peak, Karanis may have had a population of several thousand people.
Due to the large amount of papyri uncovered at the site during the 19th century, the settlement was already on archaeologists’ radar, even back then.
In the 20th century, large-scale excavations were conducted, revealing residential areas, granaries, production facilities, temples, and a bathhouse.
Karanis serves as a shining example of domestic architecture created by the Romans and of Greco-Roman urban development in Egypt.
Studies of the settlement have led to a clearer picture of the events that contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire as well as the state of the environment in ancient times.
The town was in existence when a period known as the Roman Climatic Optimum occurred. It took place between the 3rd and 4th centuries and was characterized by warmer weather than usual in the Mediterranean region and other parts of Europe.
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