Description
A life size replica of an oil lamp from Israel. This style is classed as a pinched wick bowl lamp and was common across the mediterranean during the late 2nd to early 1st millennium BC. This particular shape is Iron age c1000BC.
The lamp is formed from a bowl, and the edge is “pinched’ together to form a support to rest the wick. You can actually see the finger print of the potter at the edge of the “pinch”. The lamp would have been filled with olive oil, a little salt added to lesson the smoke and a wick back then was made usually from flax. This lamp could burn for about 3 hours.
Lamps similar to this have been found in the tombs in ancient Egypt.
This is a replica made by potters in Hebron, whose families have been potters for many generations. HC.
