ACTA ACCLA, December 2006
Holyland Oil Lamps
By Ken Baumheckel
Burning reproductions of 4-spout, 1-spout, and Herodian oil lamps
Introduction
Terra cotta oil
lamps provided portable light and fire for every household in Syria and
Palestine from the end of the Early Bronze Age. Oil lamps were used in the First
Temple, and their importance and familiarity to the people of the eastern
Mediterranean can be appreciated by their use in a number of metaphors in the
Bible. David, YHWH, the tribe of Judah, G-d's word, G-d's commands, man's
perspective on life, John the Baptist, and Jesus are all called "lamps". (See 2
Samuel 21:17, 2 Samuel 22:29, 1 Kings 11:36, Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 6:23,
Proverbs 21:4, Luke 11:34, John 5:35, Revelation 21:23.)
Most of the lamps illustrated are lamps of the "Holy Land," a place
that is very dear to adherents of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The oil
lamps are not for sale. They are in my private
collection. I purchased my first oil lamp, the Iron IIBC lamp with a short
foot, in 2000 after I learned that this lamp was widely used in the Southern
Kingdom (Judah) during the First Temple period. I was fascinated to be able to
see and hold an artifact from Israel that is older than any Biblical coin, and I
have since acquired many more lamps, including a few that are quite a bit older
than the earliest struck coinage. Although no coins existed during the time of
Abraham, Moses, or Elijah, these men all used oil lamps, and some of the lamps
in my collection would have been familiar to them.
Introductory note about the dating of the lamps
I have arranged the lamps in descending order beginning with the oldest,
according to the best information I have on their attribution. There is
considerable overlap of types, as older forms often continued to be made while
new forms were being developed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Early Bronze IV to Middle Bronze IIA,
4-spout lamp. 2350-1750 BCE. Lamp fabric is reddish orange gritty clay. The lamp measures 12.3 cm
diagonally and stands 3.8 cm high. The walls of the lamp are about 5 mm thick,
and the lamp has a flat, unfinished bottom. Traces of soot are visible in each
of the four wick rests. Amiran photo 82, plates 22.11, 23.9, 24.13, plate
59.1; Adler 2, 3; BAR p. 45.
Comment: This lamp's thin walls indicate that it was formed by
centrifugal force on the fast wheel that was in common use in the Middle Bronze
Age. Large numbers of thin-walled four-spouted lamps were made in the MB I
period (2250-2000 BCE). These four-spouted lamps are among the earliest vessels
specially made to be lamps. Older still are the simple bowls from the
Chalcolithic period (fourth millennium BCE) with telltale burn marks on their
rims (sometimes in depressions), which show that these bowls were used as lamps.
Four-spouted lamps continued to be made less frequently in the early MB II
period until about 1750 BCE. Negev and Gibson note that "Bronze Age lamps tend
to be coarse, often with visible coarse-sand size inclusions exposed on the
surfaces." |
 |
Middle Bronze Age lamp, single spout, rim straight up like a
bowl. 2200-1550 BCE. Lamp fabric is gritty orange clay with large quartz
inclusions, and the lamp is 11.7 cm long, 9.5 cm wide, and 3.7 cm high. The
lamp has a slightly rounded, tool-scraped bottom, and the wick rest has a lot of
soot. Amiran plates 22.16, 24.14, 59.5-12; Djuric C1; Adler 7; BAR p. 45.
Comment: Single-spouted lamps with a slight pinch for the
wick and an incurved rim first appeared along with the four-spouted lamps in the
MB I period and continued to be made through about 1400 BCE, the middle of the
Late Bronze Age, after which rims on lamps began to be turned outward to form a
ledge. Incidentally, broken vessels (bowls, jugs) could find a second life as
oil lamps, as indicated by their blackened rims; according to Sussman, this was
only done during the Middle Bronze Age. |
Photograph Courtesy of Zuzim Judaea
click image for larger view |
Late Bronze Age I Lamp. 1550-1400 BCE. Formed of pinkish clay, with a flat bottom and a deep bowl. 12.7 cm long X 12.5 cm wide X 4.5 cm high. The lamp has not a trace of soot, so it may never have been used. It was burnished on the potter's wheel. In the few places where the inner clay is exposed, it has coarse grits.. Very few coarse grits appear on the surface because the wheel burnishing eliminated them. Yadin (1975), p. 66; Amiran Plate 59.11; Djuric C1; Smith, figure 1 (right).
Comment: Similar to the Middle Bronze lamp with a single wick rest, this lamp has an incurving rim, but the pinch for the wick rest on this lamp is a little more pronounced. The lamp is very close in form to three lamps that Yigael Yadin found in a Late Bronze I tomb at Hazor. Later lamps (produced from LB II through the end of the Iron Age and into the Persian Period) have an even more sharply pinched wick rest, and most of them also have outcurving rims. |
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Late Bronze IIBC lamp of gritty orange clay with a narrow ledge formed by the subtle outturning of the rim. 1400-1200 BCE. The wick rest is small and the bowl is shallow. The lamp measures 12.2 cm long, 12.6 cm wide, and 3.0 cm high. Djuric C2, Amiran plate 59.18; BAR p. 46.
Comment: This
example has root marks from a plant that grew down toward the lamp while it was
buried. These root marks are visible in the bottom half of the close-up photo,
and a wavy pattern of sediment from long burial can be seen around the rim of
the lamp in the other photo. |
 |
Late Bronze II or Iron Age I lamp with gritty
orange clay, deep bowl, flattened rim,
small wick rest and backward tilt. 1400 - 1000 BCE. Amiran plate 100.7; Kennedy
467 (1).
Comment: This lamp is encrusted with calcite crystals over much of its surface. These
crystals formed from long burial in a wet environment, and they are beautiful
under 16X magnification.
Kennedy notes that toward the end of the Late Bronze and continuing into the
early Iron Age, there was a series of markedly larger lamps, which did not
continue into the Iron II period. His photo 467 (1) shows a lamp with a deep
bowl that could accommodate a large supply of oil. The gritty orange clay fabric
of my lamp leads me to believe it to be an early lamp (i.e., end of Late Bronze
II). |
Iron I large lamp with nozzle pinched
shut, 15.6 cm long X 14.5 cm wide X 4.9 cm high, of coarse brown clay with large
limestone grits, covered with dendritic calcium deposits. 1200-1000 BCE. BAR
pp.46, 47; Adler 19, 20.
Comment: This lamp is poorly balanced; when placed on a flat
surface it tends to tip backward, and since the wall of the lamp is nearly flat,
the lamp could not have retained a pool of oil in this position. Smith notes
this problem common to many Iron I lamps and believes that an upright bowl was
likely placed beneath the lamp as a supporting stand so that the lamp could be
balanced correctly.
This is the first lamp with two holes in the top of the lamp, the large one for
the reservoir of oil, the smaller one for the wick. Why this lamp type was
discontinued is unclear. Bailey remarks on the inherent benefits to a closed
nozzle, noting that it allowed for greater control of the wick and the ability
to create a smokeless flame, since the wick could be tamped down. In my own
experiments, I have seen that unless the nozzle is closed, there is no way to
prevent the flame from crawling down into the lamp and becoming larger and
smokier as the reserve of oil in the bottom of the lamp begins to get depleted. |
Photographs by Allan White & Michael J. Connor
click images for larger
views |
Iron Age I lamp of brown clay, 14.8 cm long X 14.8 cm wide X 4.5 cm high. This lamp shares two features with the Iron Age I lamp illustrated in Amiran Plate 100.7: 1) a large-capacity round bowl with a smoothly curving wall lacking in carination (which will be a feature of Iron Age II lamps), and 2) a rim with a triangular profile imparted by a tool, which flattened the rim and formed a crisp scarp with the wall of the lamp. 1200-1000 BCE. Similar: Yoqne’am II p. 79, lamp 10; Lachish III, Fig. 19.31.2 and Fig. 19.51.4.
Comment: This lamp was poorly fired in the kiln, so that some of the surface clay has caked, delaminated and eroded away. The close-up reveals the tool-flattened rim and dark pock marks where poorly fired clay has eroded away. |
 Iron IIAB
large heavy lamp of red clay with a round bottom and tool-shaped rim. 1000-800
BCE. Djuric C4; BAR p. 46; Smith (1964) fig. 2; Lachish IV, Fig. 25.43.25; Yoqne’am II Fig. 11.12, cf. Fig. I.9:6 = lamp family L I.
Comment: When this lamp was being formed by the potter on the
wheel, he used a tool to cut a groove on the outside of the lamp just beneath
the rim, creating a distinct demarcation of the rim from the wall of the lamp.
The wall of the lamp is not as carinated (angled) as in later lamps (Iron II B
and C), nor is the bowl of the lamp as shallow as it is in those lamps. |
 |
Iron IIBC lamp of pink clay with slightly rounded bottom, wide rim and deeply pinched wick rest with heavy soot. 900-525 BCE. Firing was uneven, so that the lamp appears orange in a few small patchy areas where the surface clay has eroded. The lamp measures 12.0 cm long, 12.0 cm wide, and 3.4 cm high. Djuric C6; Amiran plate 100.17; BAR p. 46; Kenyon 1967, plate xvii; Yoqne’am
II Fig. 11.12, cf. Fig. I.62:33 = lamp family L II.
Comment: This lamp has the wide, flattened rim characteristic of
lamps throughout Israel in the later period of the divided monarchy. |
On the left, an Iron IIB or IIC smaller
southern lamp with a short foot. 900-525 BCE. Amiran plate 100.20; Kenyon fig.
7.3; Aharoni plate 30; Smith (1964) fig. 9. On the right, an Iron IIC larger
southern lamp with high foot, 800-525 BCE. Amiran plate 100.19; Kenyon fig. 7.4;
Aharoni plate 31; BAR p. 47; Smith (1964) fig. 10.
Comment: Footed lamps reflect the political division of
Israel into the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom that followed the death of
Solomon, circa 928 BCE. Although lamps without a foot are common throughout
Israel, footed lamps are extremely rare north of Megiddo. (Footed lamps are
however found in Cyprus and Transjordan.) Late in Iron II, there was a tendency
toward a smaller bowl and a larger and heavier foot. Some of the footed bases
were cut from the wheel with a string while the lamp was being turned on the
potter's wheel, as can be seen in the photo of the bottom of my lamp with the
shorter foot. String marks do not appear on the bottom of my lamp with the
higher foot. This foot may have been added (or added to) after the lamp was
removed from the potter's wheel. By the way, just as broken bowls and jugs were
recycled into oil lamps during Middle Bronze, the thick round foot on these
Southern Kingdom lamps often found a second life as a stopper for a jug (to keep
the contents sealed from insects or dirt), according to Ussishkin. Though the
First Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE, footed lamps continued in use. Stern
reports that they were found by G. E. Wright among other objects in a tomb at
Beth Shemesh that dates to the late sixth centuy BCE. |
 |
Large Persian period open lamp of finely levigated pink clay with a shallow
bowl, wide tool-shaped rim, a knife-shaved bottom, and a very deeply pinched
wick rest bearing soot. 600-332 BCE. Uneven firing temperatures or presence of oxygen
affected the color of the lamp; color varies from pink to pale orange as a
result. The lamp measures 16.1 cm long, 14.3 cm wide, and 4.0 cm high.
Adler 30, Djuric C7; Stern p. 128; BAR p. 48; Yoqne’am II Fig. 11.12, cf.
Fig. I.86.1 = lamp family L III.
Comment: Stern reports these lamps in the same late 6th century
BCE tomb where the footed lamp was found. He writes that the majority of examples date
to the fifth and fourth centuries BCE and were thus in use during the entire
Persian period. One lamp of this type was found with a hollow tube attached to
its base for insertion into a pole, apparently serving the same purpose as the
hollow socket in the center of my archaic/classical Greek lamp. |
Wheel-made archaic/classical Greek lamp of fine pale
yellowish clay with vertical slightly rounded sides. The flat, slightly downward
sloping rim over hangs the interior of the lamp, and there is a knife-pared
hollow socket (apparently to accept the point of a pole or stand). A short
nozzle was formed separately and attached to the shoulder of the lamp. Traces of
red burnish and black glaze still adhere to the lamp. The lamp measures 10 cm
long, 7.7 cm wide, and 2.4 cm high. 6th-5th cent. BCE. QEDEM 8.3, BMC I Q639
(Sicily).
Comment: According to Bailey, no lamps survive in the Aegean
area from the end of the Bronze Age to the first quarter of the 7th century
BCE. Negev and Gibson note that Greek lamps were introduced into Israel/
Palestine in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE through coastal trade. In the
photograph of my lamp, note that the central cone bears a dark slip while the
rest of the interior of the lamp is light, and that the inside of the nozzle is
divided into light and dark portions as well. Bailey explains that the dark slip
was utilitarian, intended to minimize seepage of oil through the pores of the
clay. The cone was brushed with slip while the lamp was turning on a wheel, and
the nozzle received its coating of slip by being dipped into the slip mixture. |
Photographs by Michael J. Connor
click images for larger views |
Hellenistic wheel-made lamp of fine orange
clay with a brown glaze, a globular body 6.2 cm long X 4.3 cm high, a concave
raised base, a sunken filling-hole surrounded by a groove, and a horizontally
pierced side lug on the upper left half. 3rd century BCE. QEDEM 8.17; BAR p. 48;
BMC I Q 443 (Calymna) and Q 254 (Cnidus); Hayes 30 (similar).
Comment: According to
Bailey, pierced side-lugs first appeared on lamps during the second half of the
fourth century BCE. He says that the lug served the user of the lamp as an
additional grip on a slippery lamp body, but that the primary purpose of the
pierced lug was to allow the lamp to be suspended by a cord when not in use. He
further states that side-lugs soon lost their original purpose and became merely
decorative and usually unpierced, as is the case on my Hellenistic mold-made
lamp. |
 |
Hellenistic mold-made lamp of red clay and a dark grey slip, 7.9 cm
long X 4.7 cm. wide, with a long nozzle, small branches around the shoulders, and an "S" shaped lug on the
right shoulder. 4th-1st century BCE. Adler 44. |
| Punic wheel-made saucer lamp with two
nozzles, 8.5 cm long X 4.0 cm high, of poorly levigated red clay with coarse grits, covered with a buff slip. 2nd century BCE. The base is string-cut, and after the nozzles were formed by pinching, patches of clay were added to the resulting seams by hand; QEDEM 8.274 and 275; Hayes 2.
Comment: The two-nozzled
and three-nozzled Punic lamps descend from earlier Palestinian saucer lamps and
are related to the pinched-bowl "Hasmonaean" lamp, which is also found in North
Africa. |
Hasmonaean pinched bowl lamp of fine
pinkish orange clay, with a flat base and the sides folded over, closing in the
middle of the lamp to form a small nozzle and a larger filling hole. 2nd-1st century BCE. The lamp
measures 7.0 cm long, 2.6 cm wide, and 3.2 cm high. Kennedy
481 (1); Smith vol. 27, no. 4, fig.
16; Adler 37-40; QEDEM 8.329 & 330; Israeli & Avida 4 & 5; Hayes 4 & 5; Negev &
Gibson, p. 400. (*Note: this lamp is half as long as the Iron I lamp with the
closed nozzle, and this reflects the size reduction in lamps that took place
during the course of the first millennium BCE.)
Comment: The Hasmonaean pinched bowl lamp is the final form of
the saucer lamps that began in the Middle Bronze Age. Rosenthal and Sivan note
that this lamp type is known not only in Palestine but also in Cyprus and Punic
North Africa, where double and triple-nozzled lamps of closely related design
were also used. |
 |
Herodian lamp of pink clay with a soot-blackened nozzle, prominent rim, and medium ledge around the filling hole. Measures 9.2 cm
long, 6.7 cm wide, and 2.8 cm high. Herodian lamps all have a wide filling hole, a spatulated
nozzle and a flat bottom.
Comment: Herodian lamps were
made on a potter's wheel, so with careful inspection one can usually
see circular striations in the clay. The potter obliterated most
of the striations when he rubbed the bottom and sides of the lamp to
burnish it and close the pores. However, the potter could not
burnish the interior of the lamp, so a spiral design can often be seen
in the floor of the lamp as viewed through the filling hole. More
minute circular striations can be found on the shoulders and on the rim
and ledge around the filling hole of Herodian lamps.
Nautical archaeologist Shelley Wachsmann found a Herodian oil lamp in
association with the 1st century Sea of Galilee fishing boat that he excavated
in 1986. Negev and Gibson remark, "This find is important because it indicates
that clay lamps were a part of working on the Sea of Galilee. It further
suggests that fishermen had worked in the early morning and in the evenings when
lighting would have been necessary." See Matthew 5:4-5 and John 21:3 for gospel
accounts of night fishing. |
 |
Daroma mold-made lamp with triangles and lines around filling hole, a ring base, and a knob
handle. Adler 305.
Comment: Daroma lamps were
manufactured in Judaea after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, when
the urban population, including artists and craftsmen, fled Jerusalem. These are
the first decorated lamps made by Jews and intended for Jewish use. The sides of
the triangles in the motif on my lamp bow outward and probably represent flower
petals or leaves of some sort. According to Adler, floral motifs are common on
Daroma lamps. Other motifs include agricultural tools, craftsmen's tools,
geometric designs, Jewish symbols, and jewelry. |
This mold-made Roman lamp of pink to orange clay
originally had a rosette on
a large discus with a small filling hole, but the discus was broken out by the
lamp's user, as was commonly done in Israel. Israeli and Avida suggest that
the reason this was done may have been the preference in Israel for lamps with
a large filling hole, or that the users wished to obliterate pagan designs.
The lamp has a large, round, knife-pared and soot-covered spout, volutes at the
join of spout and main body, an ovolo pattern around the shoulder, and a ring
base. As is typical of early Roman lamps, this lamp was fashioned without a
handle. The lamp measures 8.4 cm long, 6.7 cm wide, and 2.3 cm high. 1st -
3rd century CE. Israeli & Avida 43-47; BAR p. 49.
Comment: Fingerprints, one very wide and sharp, are preserved in
the clay on the inside of this lamp. These were made when the clay of the lamp was
pressed into the mold by hand. |
 |
Byzantine "candlestick" lamp of salmon-pink clay with a
rim around the wick hole, two rims around the filling hole, and a central ridge on the nozzle
connecting the rim of the (sooty) wick hole with the outer rim of the filling
hole. There is a candlestick design on the nozzle and a band of dashes around the
shoulders, and the ring base has a central omphalos dot. The lamp measures
9.0 cm long, 5.8 cm wide, and 3.3 cm high. 5th-7th century CE. QEDEM
8.476-479; Adler 923 (similar); BAR p. 49.
Comment: Fingerprints in the clay can be seen in the floor of this lamp. The candlestick pattern has been interpreted as representing a menorah, a palm branch, or even a stylized flame. |
Photograph by Michael J. Connor
click image for larger view |
Inscribed Byzantine "candlestick" lamp, similar to the previous lamp, but with a Greek inscription in place of the band of dashes reading: "The light of Christ enlightens all." 8.9 cm long, 6.2 cm wide, and 3.0 cm high. End of 5th to early 8th century CE. Loffreda 18; Adler 936.
Comment: To either side of the stylized palm tree(?) are two devices which Loffreda considers symbols representing flights of steps descending into and ascending out of a baptismal pool. The inscription runs clockwise around the lamp.  It begins facing the shoulders, then switches to facing the center of the lamp, and reads: ΦΩΣ (= "Light", with a lunate sigma) ΧΥ (abbreviation of ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ, = "of Christ") ΦΕΝ (abbreviation and dialect-influenced spelling of ΦΑΙΝΕΙ, = "enlightens") ΠΑΑΣΙΝ (spelling variation of ΠΑΣΙΝ, with an extra alpha and lunate sigma fused with iota, = "to all"). |
 |
Early Samaritan lamp of orange clay, having a bow-shaped
nozzle with concave sides. In the Samaritan tradition of "horror vacui", the entire lamp is lavishly
decorated with ladder designs, concentric circles, and semicircles with lines
inside. The discus was broken by the user. The lamp has a ring base with a
central omphalos dot, and at the rear of the lamp there is a small pyramid-shaped
handle. The lamp measures 9.5 cm long, 6.5 cm wide, and 3.0 cm high. 4th - 5th
century CE. Israeli & Av. 399, Adler 656 (similar).
Comment: Dry (carbonized?) plant roots are extant inside this
lamp and can be seen in the photo (inside the filling hole). Adler suggests that the
Samaritans made lamps with closed discuses to be broken by the user because of
their purity traditions. (A closed lamp did not receive impurity). |
 |
Byzantine lamp of buff clay with an inner rim encircling
the filling hole and
an outer rim that forms a hand-mirror ridge. The ridge connects the filling
hole and sooty wick hole and forms a channel between them. The shoulders are
decorated with a laurel pattern, and five dots form a cross on the nozzle. A
high conical handle rises from the rear of the lamp. The lamp measures 7.8 cm
long, 6.0 cm wide, and 2.8 cm high. 5th-7th cent. CE. Israeli & Avida 481,
486 (similar).
Comment: Fingerprints are visible inside the lamp. |
Photographs by Michael J. Connor
click images for larger views |
Early Islamic mold-made lamp of buff clay with a large filling hole surrounded by a triple molding. On the shoulders around the filling hole are two ladder-patterns formed of dashes. The elongated nozzle is sooty and bears a channel framed by high ridges. The channel is ornamented with a symmetrical pattern of lines and has three dots at either end (one dot missing). A high conical handle rises from the rear of the lamp. On the bottom of the lamp, a keel-ridge runs from the ring base with central omphalos to the end of the nozzle. The lamp measures 10.5 cm long, 7.0 cm wide, and 4.2 cm high (not including the handle). Israeli & Avida 436, 446-452 (similar). 7th to 9th Century CE.
Comment: According to Israeli & Avida, the production and distribution of this lamp type included Syria and Eretz Israel. |
Photograph Courtesy of Zuzim Judaea
click image for larger view |
Late Byzantine wheel-made "boot" style oil lamp with a circular reservoir and a high ribbed body tapering toward the top. 8.5 cm long X 5.0 cm high X 6.3 cm wide. Loop handle (broken) and thick pointed nozzle (sooty) hand-formed and added. QEDEM 8.506, 507; Israeli & Avida 500; Adler 950, 951; Sussman 1982, p. 12; Kennedy 630 (16). 6th - 7th Century CE.
Comment: The handle of the Byzantine "boot" lamp broke in ancient times. A thick layer of minerals overlies the break, so that the sharp edges of the actual break are well-hidden. This lamp was made from coarse clay and though it was decorated with grooves, it was given no surface treatment whatsoever. This lamp type is more common in southern Israel than in the north (per Adler). Incidentally, after wheel-made lamps were abandoned in early Roman times as mold-made lamps swept them from the market, they now make a comeback and will continue to be made through the Islamic period and into the Middle Ages. |
|
Islamic unglazed wheel-made lamp with high, flaring sides
folded to make a long triangular wick rest. There is a strap handle connecting
the rim at the rear of the lamp to a small, sharp-edged pan in the bottom of the
lamp. Crusades Period (12th to
13th century CE), Djuric C353; Kennedy 799 (26) is similar.
Comment: According to Kennedy, although Crusader lamps from
other locations may have a
green or brown glaze, Palestinian examples are never glazed. |
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OIL LAMP REFERENCES
Adler, Noam. A Comprehensive Catalog of Oil Lamps of the Holy Land from
the Adler Collection. Old City Press: Israel, 2004.
Comment: Oil lamps from 2200 BCE up to the Crusader Period are photographed
and described. An exceptional reference, Adler's book classifies lamps by
typological characteristics into relatively precise regions and date ranges,
with strong sections on Herodian and Samaritan types. 180 pages, 1,045 lamps pictured.
Bailey, D.M. A Catalogue of the lamps in the British Museum: I: Greek,
Hellenistic, and Early Roman Pottery Lamps. British Museum Publications: London,
1975.
Comment: This reference catalogues and describes 749 oil lamps and includes a staggering 150 photographic plates. Only four of the lamps are from the Levant per se, but lamps from Al Mina and Cyprus are included, and these are closely related to Palestinian lamps.
Djuric, Srdjan. The Anawati Collection, Catalog 1: Ancient Lamps from the
Mediterranean. Eika Bookselling and Publishing: Toronto, 1995.
Comment: Djuric's book has large high-resolution photos of 359 lamps. The
book covers shell-type lamps, Greek and Hellenistic lamps, "plastic" lamps, frog
lamps, Roman, North African, Syro-Palestinian, Asia Minor, early Christian, Byzantine, and Islamic lamps.
Hayes, J. W. Ancient Lamps in the Royal Ontario Museum I: Greek and Roman
Clay Lamps: A Catalogue. Royal Ontario Museum: Toronto, 1980.
Comment: This is an outstanding catalogue with some 568 oil lamps pictured. Of these only two lamps are Palestinian, but this is a super reference if one is interested in comparative lamp studies.
Israeli and Avida. Oil Lamps from Eretz Israel: The Louis and Carmen
Warschaw Collection at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. The Israel Museum:
Jerusalem, 1988.
Comment: Israeli and Avida focus on lamps from the 4th Century BCE to the 9th Century CE. 502 lamps are pictured and described, almost all of them Palestinian types. Nice narratives introduce each of the eleven chapters.
Kennedy, C.A. The Development of the Lamp in Palestine. In
Berytus. Volume
XIV: 1963.
Comment: Good discussion of oil lamps in Palestine from the Early Bronze
Age down through the 15th Century C.E. 102 representative lamps are pictured in the photographic plates.
Loffreda, Stanislao. Light and Life: Ancient Christian Oil Lamps of the Holy Land. Franciscan Printing Press: Jerusalem, 2001.
Comment: This is an English translation of Loffreda's original work published in Jerusalem in 1995, "Luce e Vita nelle antiche cristiane della Terra Santa." Loffreda defines ten distinct directional patterns of script on these lamps. He explains that many of the messages on the lamps that until recently were dismissed as unreadable jumbles of Greek letters can now be read as the messages they were intended to communicate, by the simple expedient of working from the known to the unknown. It was we "who could not read and not the Byzantines who could not write."
Rosenthal and Sivan. QEDEM Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, #8: Ancient Lamps in the Schloessinger
Collection. Ahva Press: Jerusalem, 1978.
Comment: QEDEM 8 has well-organized chapters on Roman, Roman provincial,
Egyptian, North African, Palestinian, Byzantine and Islamic lamps. Over 675
lamps are pictured and described, and cross references to other lamp collections
are included. Photos tend to be small.
Smith, R.H. Series of three articles in The Biblical
Archaeologist. Volume 27, No. 1, pp. 1-31 (1964); Volume 27, No. 4, pp. 101-124
(1964); Volume 29, No. 1, pp. 2-27 (1966).
--. The ‘Herodian’ Lamp of Palestine: Types and Dates. In Berytus. Volume XIV,
Number 1: 1961.
Sussman, Varda. Lighting the Way Through History: The Evolution of
Ancient Oil Lamps. Biblical Archaeology Review. Volume XI, No. 2: March/April
1985.
--. Ornamented Jewish Oil-Lamps from the Destruction of the Second Temple
through the Bar Kochba Revolt. Arist Phillips: Warminster, England, 1982.
Comment: In both these works, Varda Sussman illustrates the evolution of the oil lamp from 3,000 BCE to the Islamic Conquest. The BAR article includes pictures and line drawings of representative lamps drawn to scale. This back issue is available from BAR.
OTHER REFERENCES
Aharoni, Yohanan. Archaeology of the Land of Israel: From the
Prehistoric Beginnings to the End of the First Temple Period. Philadelphia:
Westminster Press, 1982.
Amiran, Ruth. Ancient Pottery of the Holy Land. New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers University, 1970.
Comment: Amiran's book covers pottery in Israel from its origins to Iron II C, or the Babylonian captivity. Plates include line drawings of pieces cited to specific sites where the they were recovered by archaeological teams. Included are approximately 60 line drawings of Bronze Age and Iron Age lamps.
Bartlett, John R. Cities of the
Biblical World: Jericho. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1982.
Ben-Tor, Amnon. Yoqne’am I: The
Late Periods (QEDEM Report 3). Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Jerusalem,
1996.
--. Yoqne’am II: The Iron Age and the
Persian Period: Final Report of the Archaeological Excavations (1977-1988)
(QEDEM Report 6). Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Jerusalem, 2005.
Hendrix, Ralph E. et al. Ancient
Pottery of Transjordan: An Introduction Utilizing Published Whole Forms, Late
Neolithic through Late Islamic. Andrews University Press, Berrien Springs,
Michigan: 1996.
Kenyon, Kathleen. Archaeology in the Holy Land (3rd
editon). Praeger Publishers: New York, 1970.
--. Jerusalem: Excavating 3000 Years of History. McGraw-Hill: New York,
1967.
Negev, Avraham and Gibson, Shimon. Archaeological Encyclopedia of the
Holy Land. Continuum: New York, 2001.
Stern, Ephraim. The Material Culture of the Land of the Bible in the
Persian Period 538-332 BC. Aris & Philips Ltd.: Warminster, England, 1982.
Ussishkin, David. The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish
(1973-1994). Tel Aviv University: Tel Aviv, 2004.
Comment: This is a five-volume work. Volumes III and IV are devoted to the pottery and include many plates consisting of line drawings of pottery from the various dated strata. Included are many examples of oil lamps from the Early Bronze Age through the end of the Iron Age.
Wachsmann, Shelley. The Sea of Galilee Boat: A 2000 Year Old Discovery
From the Sea of Legends. Perseus Books: New York, 2000.
Wood, Bryant G. The Sociology of Pottery in Ancient Palestine: The
Ceramic Industry and the Diffusion of Ceramic Style in the Bronze and Iron
Ages. Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield, England, 1990.
Yadin, Yigael et al. Hazor I: An Account of the First Season of
Excavations, 1955. Magness Press: Jerusalem, 1958.
--. Hazor: The Rediscovery of a Great Citadel of the Bible. New York: Random
House, 1975.
Acknowledgments
Ken Baumheckel is a member of ACCLA and a founding member of OCACC. This article is an updated version of that posted by Jean Philippe Fontanille on his menorahcoinproject site. Ken Buamheckel invites your questions or comments at
kenbaumheckel@aol.com. Updated December 18, 2006
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