Hi, all. Here is another
oil lamp fragment from
Caesarea. I am having trouble determining an exact reference because of the missing parts of the
lamp and my limited access to references. Any opinions or corrections to the description would be appreciated. Also, I don't know the correct term for what I called the "circular ladder" design in the shoulder. Let me know if there is a better way to refer to that, and anything else I should note. It is interesting that the wick hole, if that is what it is, was punched at an angle right through the ladder designs on the nozzle. You can see
part of the ladder bent inside on the excess clay. I suppose this could have been an extra air hole, but the distance between the fill hole and the wick hole matches that of my
complete Late Samaritan/Early
Byzantine lamp almost exactly. Thanks, for looking! V-drome
BCC CG19
Decorated
Oil Lamp Fragment
Caesarea Maritima
5th-7th Century CE?
Fragment of an Early
Byzantine or Samaritan
oil lamp (
Adler Type S.3? or BYZ.6?), or (Knell
type BSP7? BSP8?, or BSP16?), consisting of the front
part of the rimmed filler hole, rear
part of the wick hole, elongated nozzle with convex sides, and broad rounded shoulders. The slightly trenched nozzle is decorated with two longitudinal "ladders", and raised linear borders that also surrounded the
rim of the filler hole. On each shoulder is a "circular ladder" containing a rosette of five petals, and traces of a plant-like design or
inscription in front of that. The wick hole, if that is what it is, was roughly punched through the design elements while the clay was wet, leaving an accumulation of excess clay on the inside. There is no visible carbon around the opening.
Fabric: Slightly coarse, reddish-orange clay. Manufacure: Mould made.
Dimensions: L5.0 x W4.9 x H1.3cm.
Weight: 15.0gm.
Surface find
Caesarea Maritima, 1971
(click for larger pics)