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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Dropper bottle
Unknown
The squat body is teardrop-shaped with the spout extending 2.5 cm. beyond the body. The spout is horizontal and drawn out of the body of the vessel. The bottom is flattened and the item is free-standing. The tip of the spout is not finished; it may have been broken. The aperture is very narrow. The cylindrical neck of the bottle rises from the body for 4.7 cm. to the rim. The rim is flattened and in-folded unevenly.
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Elongated bottle
Unknown
The bottle has a flattened rim, folded inward, and a long cylindrical neck that widens into the body. The body has four indentations irregularly spaced that run longitudinally to the base. The base is a rounded square shape, indented with no pontil mark.
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Ewer
Unknown
Large pitcher has a trefoil mouth. The neck tapers slightly before expanding into the globular body. The base is a narrow ridge. The handle is round; it is attached at the rim and high on the shoulder. The pitcher was thrown on a wheel and the separately worked handles were applied later.
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Ewer
Unknown
Pitcher has a single handle which attaches at the neck and at the shoulder. The base is a flat disk. Black figures of Hercules fighting the Hydra decorate the red surface. The object has been repaired at the base with pink clay. It has also been broken and repaired with glue at the neck and the handle.
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Ewer
Unknown
Small pitcher has a trefoil mouth and simple rim. The handle rises from the high shoulder and curls down to meet the rim.
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Ewer
Unknown
Small pitcher has an in-folded rim on a cylindrical neck. The body is cylindrical, defined top and bottom by a raised band and then a convex shoulder and convex bottom. The base is flat with two raised circles, one inside the other. Handle attaches to the shoulder and the rim; the rim terminus has a thumb-piece. Loops (gadroons) decorate the shoulder and the base. The body is decorated with large motifs of eight arms.
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Female figurine
Unknown
Solemn-faced female figurine clasps her breasts. The figure is barefoot and stands on a shallow oval platform. She wears a cylindrical skirt with two bands at the bottom and an incised apron front and back. Incised lines indicate a waistband or belt. She wears a necklace with five beads to the front. Hair is worn in braids (?), long in the back and dressed with a filet to create a topknot on top of her head. The head is disproportionately large compared with the body. The nose is prominent and bulbous. The ears appear as large rings on either side of the head. The eyes are deep gouges. The lips are full and straight. The chin recedes. The back of the figurine is worked in detail. The bend in the elbows forms loops to the back of the figurine.
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Forceps
Unknown
The fold-hinge tweezers are inscribed with five lines on each leg parallel to the hinge and running to the jaws. The shape describes a triangle, with the hinge at the top and the pointed jaws below. Jaws have no teeth and are straight. One jaw is broken off and worn. A hole pierces through the broad area below the hinge and above the first inscribed line. The grip is stiff and sufficient to grasp an object firmly.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Slender solid metal cylindrical object has a spherical head atop the shaft. The shaft tapers to a sharp point at the other end. The shaft is pierced by a bore 4.0 cm. below the head. The shaft is swollen to support the sides of the bore. White corrosion on the head may indicate the presence of lead.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Slender, solid cylindrical object has a flat nail head at one end and a rounded point at the other. The diameter of the shaft remains constant from the head to the bore midway down the length of the shaft. Below the bore at 9.5 cm. to 10 cm., the shaft tapers to the point. The bore is clear of corrosion and appears to be supported by a collar.
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Garment pin
Unknown
The slender solid metal object has a rounded head and tapers to a rounded point. A forged bore, reinforced with a collar segment, occurs between 8 and 9 cm. below the head.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Slender, solid metal object has a flattish, slightly domed nail head top. The cylindrical shaft tapers to a point that has been broken away. The object is pierced by a bore between 9.0 and 9.5 cm. below the head. The bore is closed with corrosion but it appears to be reinforced on either side by a collar.
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Garment pin
Unknown
The slender greenish-brown metal object tapers from the head to the sharp point. The head end has eight lobes which suggest a sharply involuted sphere, sometimes referred to as a poppy seed head. There is a forged hole 3.5 cm. below the head. A collar surrounds and reinforces the hole. Incised bands on the shaft extend to the hole and below it for 0.4 cm.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Slender item is heavily encrusted with corrosion. At the narrow end, a sharp point is exposed. The other end is adorned with a solid ball with a flat circular plate on top of that. The shaft appears to be a solid cylinder which is pierced by a forged bore between 3 and 4 cm. below the embellished end. The hole is clear of debris. The walls of the shaft are distended by the bore.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Slender solid metal cylindrical object has a spherical head atop the shaft. The shaft maintains a constant diameter until the possible site of a bore, which occurs between 11 and 12 cm. down from the head. The bore is closed and wholly obscured with corrosion. Below the bore, the shaft tapers to a broken tip.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Finely worked shaft tapers from the head end to a point. The head was created by sliding a bead over the point and along the shaft until it could go no further. The bead is round and bears traces of white, which may indicate the presence of lead. The head of the shaft is hollow as can be seen by looking down on the bead from above. The sharp point is clearly inscribed with a spiral groove for at least 1.5 cm.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Slender, sharp object increases in diameter as it rises toward a knob at the top. The object is pierced by a forged hole 4 cm. below the knob. The object is bent above and below the forged hole in a slightly bowed form.
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Garment pin
Unknown
The object has a square cross-section, possibly broken at the small end. It tapers along the solid square shaft to an acorn-shaped top. The acorn embellishment is separated from the shaft by a narrow neck. The shaft is pieced by a bore lying between 1.6 and 2.0 cm. below the embellished end. The bore is clear of debris and does not distort the profile of the object.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Slender solid cylindrical object with a spherical head at the top of the shaft terminates in a sharp point. A bore pierces the shaft at the 4th cm. below the head. The bore is supported by thickened shaft walls on either side of the hole.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Solid metal cylindrical object tapers from a semicircular domed head atop the shaft to a very sharp point. A bore pieces the slender shaft between 4.0 and 4.3 cm. below the domed head. The bore is free of debris and supported by thickened walls on either side of the hole. The shaft is bent several times between the bore and the point.
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Garment pin
Unknown
Solid metal cylinder tapers from a nail head at the head end of the object to a dull point. The object is pierced by a bore 7 cm. below the head. The hole is clear of debris and supported by a collar, which is defined top and bottom by an inscribed line. The shaft is bent several times between the bore and the point.
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Goblet
Unknown
Goblet has a simple rim, cylindrical body rounded on the bottom, a short narrow stem and a conical base. The base is finished in a tubular ring. The pontil mark is visible in the apex of the concave base. At the bottom of the inside of the cup, a dome rises, surrounded by a trough, where the stem attaches.
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Goblet
Unknown
Delicate goblet has a rounded rim, cylindrical body rounded on the bottom, a short narrow stem and a conical base. The base is finished with a tubular ring. The pontil mark is visible in the apex of the concave base. At the bottom of the inside of the cup, a dome rises, surrounded by a small trough, where the stem attaches.
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Hair ornament
Unknown
A solid shaft terminates at one end in a blunt point and at the other end in an embellishment. Three bands embellish the shaft, which then narrows before supporting the embellishment. The embellishment resembles a pointed bud, with a whorl design inscribed so that the lines terminate roughly 90 degrees from their origin at the base of the embellishment. The embellishment itself is just under 1 cm.
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Head of a man
Unknown
Head of a man, possibly representing the Graeco-Egyptian god Serapis, wearing a basket-shaped headdress with emblems on four sides. His hair falls in long curls on the forehead and all around the head to the shoulders. Face has bushy eyebrows, full mustache and full beard. Beard is curly.
