The Farid Karam Antiquities Collection at USF by Institute for Digital Exploration (USF IDEx) on Sketchfab
The Farid Karam, M.D. Lebanon Antiquities Collection consists of 149 objects, including jars, goblets, bottles, oil lamps, unguentariums, and busts/figures, donated to the USF Libraries Special Collections in 1998 by Dr. Farid Karam and his wife Jehanne. Most of the items were acquired by Dr. Karam in Lebanon, originate in Roman Syria, a wealthy province on the Eastern Mediterranean, and date from the 1st through the 4th centuries AD.
In Fall 2016 Dr Davide Tanasi and his students at USF's Center for Virtualization and Applied Spatial Technologies (CVAST) 3D scanned all 149 Karam objects using CVAST's FaroArm, a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Final processing and creation of the 3D models was completed by Dr. Tanasi at the Institute for Digital Exploration (IDEx) at the University of South Florida Department of History. The project process and history was captured in the article "Virtual Karam Collection: 3D Digital Imaging and 3D Printing for Public Outreach in Archaeology" by Tanasi, Hassam, and Kingsland.
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Alabastron
Unknown
Thick-walled vessel has a flattened rim, narrow cylindrical neck and a larger cylindrical body with a rounded bottom. The vessel cannot stand. Rim is uneven in depth and it is out-of-round. Neck is 1.9 cm. in length and off-center.
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Alabastron
Unknown
Alabaster bottle has a rounded bottom and cannot stand. The walls are thick and translucent. The rim has been repaired. A double line is incised above the inscription.
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Aphrodite
Unknown
Female figurine holds a bowl in the palm of her left hand, arm reflexed and palm at shoulder level. She holds a pitcher in her right hand, which hangs along the side of her body. The figure is nude. Her hair is parted in the middle and knotted at the back. Features are delicate: the body depicts a young woman gazing toward the bowl in her hand.
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Awl
Unknown
Heavy metal object with a domed head and possibly a flange. The shaft tapers from the head to the broken tip. The object is pierced between 8 cm. and 9 cm. below the head. The bore is clear of debris.
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Balance
Unknown
Delicate balance consists of one hook attached to the beam at the fulcrum, two materials hooks attached at one end and one independent weight. The hooks articulate. The beam is square in cross-section, terminating in an acorn-shaped embellishment. The weight consists of a ring with a conical weight hanging below, terminating in a rounded point.
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Bottle
Unknown
Piriform bottle has an in-folded rim that is uneven in depth and that overhangs the diameter of the neck. The rim has been flattened parallel to the base. The cylindrical neck expands smoothly into the body which leads to a flat base. There is no palpable pontil mark. The glass is thick and finely pitted.
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Bottle
Unknown
Piriform bottle has a ledge rim folded inward. The cylindrical neck transitions smoothly to the conical body. The base is slightly concave with no pontil mark.
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Bottle
Unknown
The small bottle has a flat rim with a rounded edge. The cylindrical neck of 2.4 cm. leads to a slight swelling of the body which is also cylindrical. The bottom is rounded so that the bottle cannot stand. The chamber inside has been hollowed out in a single bore that does not trace the shape of the outside of the bottle. The vessel is not translucent.
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Bottle
Unknown
Bottle has a small mouth, an inverted funnel neck and a globular body. The mouth flares and terminates in a simple rim which is uneven in depth. The bottom is broad and sharply concave with a prominent pontil mark.
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Bottle with funnel neck
Unknown
Vessel has a tapering neck that narrows as it descends 6.3 cm. before flaring into the globular body. Rim is flat, possibly cracked off. Base is concave with a pontil mark.
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Bottle with glass foot
Unknown
A white stripe decorates the black body of the vessel. Base material is unknown, possibly wood. The surface is densely scratched longitudinally. The white stripe rises from the lower extremity in an irregular set of steps to the neck while circling the object twelve times. The thread is flush with the surface. The object transforms from a square cross-section at the foot to a round cross-section at the shoulder. The round neck rises 1.6 cm. to a round rim. The rim edge is squared off. The neck was broken and repaired with glue. The foot is augmented with a broken glob of black glass. The object is not free-standing and weighs 20.2 grams.
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Bowl
Unknown
Globular unglazed pot has a 2.5 cm. opening at the top; this aperture has been repaired. Foot is 1.5 cm. high and 6.0 cm. in diameter. Foot has been repaired. The upper half of the pot is decorated with three bands of designs: the uppermost band is beaded; the next band is designed with circular motifs; the last band may be an inscription in Arabic or merely fractured curved and slanting lines. The lower half of the pot is unadorned. The pot was molded in two halves and then joined at the widest part; evidence of the seam can be seen on the inside of the pot.
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Bowl
Unknown
Bowl has a concave rim that flairs and falls gracefully from a ridge at the height of the bowl. The rim is carefully executed and finished. The ridge is delicate but inconsistently formed, rolling to the inside twice. The bowl is supported by a ring base. The bottom of the inside of the bowl is convex; there is no pontil mark.
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Bowl
Unknown
The bowl rises from a flat base of 3.7 cm. in an inverted conical form for 6 cm. at which point the handles are attached at the widest part of the bowl. The bowl then curves inward from the shoulder to create a broad neck before flaring to the wide mouth. The rim has been finished smoothly on the top with a slight ridge to the inside. The handles are pierced from below by a hole 0.5 cm. in diameter. The bowl is free-standing.
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Bowl with collar
Unknown
Bowl has a high collar and inside shoulder that may have supported a lid. The bowl has an S-shaped profile beginning with the inside shoulder, tracing the steep slope of the side and terminating above the pad base. In the center of the pad base is a semicircular indentation that appears as a small dome on the inside of the bowl surrounded by a narrow trough. The rim of the collar is rounded; the lower edge of the collar is flattened.
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Bust of a man
Unknown
Man with mustache and full beard holds a frond in his right hand. Hand rests over his breastbone. Frond extends over the right shoulder. Right hand has index and middle finger extended. Hair is carefully arranged in curls over the entire head and beard. Mustache hair is straight. Eyelids and pupils are carved in relief. Lips are clearly defined, as are the eyebrows. Figure wears a draping garment over his right shoulder. The left shoulder has been chipped away. Nape of the neck and back of the shoulders are chipped away or unfinished.
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Curved garment pin
Unknown
Solid metal item has a ball at one end, tapering to a blunt point at the other. The shaft is pierced by a bore 7.1 cm. above the blunt end. The object is bent in a smooth 90 degree curve beginning 0.5 cm. behind the ball end.
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Curved garment pin
Unknown
Long slender object tapers to a dull point. The head end is embellished with a heavy solid cone of metal, the base of which attaches to the shaft. The shaft tapers from its attachment point to the dull point. The point may have been broken. The head end is bent in a smooth curve to a 75 degree angle from the length of the shaft. The shaft is pierced by a bore along the straight shaft beginning 10.7 cm. from the dull end. The shaft swells to either side of the bore.
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Curved garment pin
Unknown
Long slender object curves at a 90 degree angle beginning 2 cm. below the ball head. The ball head has a ridge along the equator. The object has a solid cylindrical shaft that terminates in a broken point. The shaft is flattened and broadened between the 2nd and 4th cm. below the ball head to support a bore.
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Cyathiscomele
Unknown
Slender instrument has a solid cylindrical shaft. On one end is an olivary point; on the other is an oblong spoon with a rounded bowl. The bowl of the spoon is cracked and bent. The side edges of the spoon are chipped while the fore edge is rounded.
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Cyathiscomele
Unknown
Slender object has a small olivary end supported on a solid narrow shaft. Shaft increases in diameter slightly as it approaches the spoon. Between shaft and spoon is a bead inscribed with semicircles. An unadorned bead encircles the shaft just above the bowl of the spoon. The bowl of the spoon suggests a long oval shape, creased along the spine into a V-shape. The bowl of the spoon is 5.4 cm; the tip of the spoon is broken off.
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Dipper jug
Unknown
Bottle has a bulbous body and a simple flared rim over a narrow, short neck. The bottom is rounded so that the object cannot stand. The body is gray and decorated with narrow stripes in black. The clay itself is reddish brown, seen in the occasional chip in the surface. The white deposit on the surface indicates that the item lay in a wet environment.
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Double alabastron
Unknown
Two vials, which were blown independently, share a common wall. The unit is decorated with two raised threads that rise from the base in a spiral of five wraps each. Two handles attach at the rim and at the outer wall 2.5 cm below the rim on either side along the lateral axis. The bottle is not free-standing. The threads appear to be made of a material that is softer than glass.
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Double head flask
Unknown
An everted tubular rim and conical mouth flow smoothly into the globular body. The body displays two like faces and sits on a concave base. The faces depict children: bulging foreheads and pug noses, prominent cheekbones, full lips and full rounded chins.
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Dropper bottle
Unknown
A flattened rim leads to a 4.5 cm. neck that tapers inward and then expands to the globular body. The rim is infolded and flattened. The narrow spout is attached to the shoulder of the body and tilts upward at a 60 degree angle. The tip of the spout is not finished and may have been broken. The bottle is free-standing on a flattened base.
