Karm el-Sheikh Oil Lamp
Name/Title
Karm el-Sheikh Oil LampEntry/Object ID
11NE-Mi39-177Description
A complete Karm el-Sheikh ovoid lamp with a smooth rounded base and a slipped surface. The fill-hole is surrounded by a thickened rim, and the shoulder of the lamp is decorated with an incised herringbone design. The short, integrated spout is flanked with degraded half-volutes (or spirals). The lamp is a sandy-beige colour, with remnants of a red slip that is most prevalent on the underside, and soot marks on the edge of the wick-hole.Use
Olive oil would have been poured through the centre hole to fill the body of the lamp. A wick (made of organic rope) would have been placed in the wick hole on the spout. The wick would then have been lit to provide light indoors and at night.Context
This lamp is an example of an ovoid-type lamp with a large fill-hole, likely dating from the Late Roman to the Early Byzantine period (3rd–4th centuries CE). These types of lamps were common in the south of Israel and Palestine, but uncommon in the north, reflecting a new trend that started at this time: regional differences in lamp styles and shapes. The group that this lamp belongs to, often referred to as Karm el-Sheikh lamps (named after a cemetery in Jerusalem), typically feature a variety of repetitive designs incised around the fill-hole. The herringbone design, as seen on the vessel displayed here, is one of the most common patterns found on these kinds of lamps. While earlier versions of this type of lamp are small and compact, with a knob handle or no handle at all, they eventually elongate over time and develop pyramidal handles. Considering this, this particular lamp is most likely an example of the earlier type. While these lamps are referred to as Karm el-Sheikh lamps, they are also classified as Beit Nattif I. LR2 and Elgavish types 23 and 28.Collection
Near EastMade/Created
Date made
circa 200 CE - circa 399 CETime Period
Roman Imperial, ByzantinePlace
Area
Syria-PalestineEthnography
Cultural Region
Area
Syria-PalestineCulture/Tribe
Near Eastern - Roman Jewish, Near Eastern - Byzantine