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An oil lamp is a simple vessel used to produce light continuously for a period of time from a fuel source. The history of oil lamps extends for about 10,000 years, from Prehistory to as late as the 19th century, or even until now in some rural remote communities. Olive oil lamps continued in wide use in countries around the Mediterranean Sea well into the 19th Century , with the lamps being mass produced out of metal (most commonly Brass or Bronze ), but otherwise little changed in design from lamps of some 2,000 years earlier. In 1780 the Argand Lamp was invented and quickly replaced the ancient form. It was, in turn, replaced by the Kerosene Lamp in about 1850 . In small towns and rural areas these continued in use well into the 20th Century . The light given by an olive oil lamp is significantly brighter than a Candle , but significantly less than the Argand lamp or the Kerosene or Paraffin burning lamp. STRUCTURE & FUNCTION Oil lamps were used not only for lighting, but also for funerary and votive purposes. Lamps were used for domestic purposes in homes and for public purposes in temples and public buildings. By studying the lamp's designs, symbols, structure and decorations, and the material of which it is made, we can identify the age and perhaps the locality of the lamp. The lamp can also give us insights into the culture of its users and their social status. Occasionally the design of the lamps also reveal the female reproductive system. Indian bronze lamps with a protruding central portion are supposed to project the male genitalia on a female womb with light representing 'origin of life' in most cases. Oil lamps were made from a wide variety of media like gold, bronze, silver, stone and terra-cotta. The most commonly used material was fired clay; many terra-cotta and bronze lamps have been unearthed. In most cases, the production and distribution of lamps was local, but in some instances they were produced by factories and exported to different areas. The usual size of a terra-cotta oil lamp is 7-10 cm in length and 3 cm in depth, with the walls being around 0.5 cm thick. Lamps with more than one nozzle are usually larger in size. COMPONENTS The following are the main external parts of a Terra-cotta lamp.
: The hole through which fuel is put inside the fuel chamber. Its width ranges from 0.5-5 cm in general. There may be single or multiple holes.
: It may be just an opening in the body of the lamp, or an elongated nozzle. In some specific types of lamps there is a groove on the superior aspect of the nozzle that runs to the pouring hole to collect back the oozing oil from the wick.
: Lamps come with and without a handle. The handle comes in different shapes. The most common is ring shaped for the forefinger surmounted by a Palmette on which the thumb in pressed to stabilize the lamp. Other handles are crescent shaped, triangular and semi-oval. The handleless lamps usually have an elongated nozzle, and sometimes have a Lug rising diagonally from the periphery. The lug may act as a small handle where the thumb rests. Some lugs are pierced. It was speculated that pierced lugs were used to place a pen or straw, called the ''acus'' or ''festuca'', with which the wick was trimmed. Others think that the pierced lugs were used to hang the lamp with a metal hook when not in use.
: The fuel reservoir. The mean volume in a typical terra-cotta lamp is 20 cc. WICKS or Ghee lamps kept for sale in Ulsoor Market, Bangalore .These are mostedly used for lightening a Diya ]]. A Wick is placed over the nozzle and extends into the fuel chamber. Most lamps come with one nozzle; a few lamps have more, from two to twenty nozzles. However, the more nozzles, the greater the fuel consumption. The wick was made of different materials, Linen , Flax , Papyrus , Tow , or ordinary Rush . The thickness of the wick is an important factor too; thin wicks burn fuel more slowly than thick ones. However, the thickness of the wick does not affect the size of the flame much. FUEL The main fuel in Western nations was Olive Oil , though extracts from fish, crude Fish Oil , Nut s, and plants were also used. Oozing Crude Petroleum was also used. The fuel was poured into the fuel reservoir via the pouring hole in the discus. Castor Oil was used by the ancient Egyptians and is still a lamp fuel today. In India oil of sesame, groundnut/peanut, and mustard is used. LAMP HOLDERS Lamps were put on lamp holders when in use. Lamp holders include:
PRODUCTION METHODS Hand Made Before the discovery of the wheel, lamps were handmade. Wheels The crude potter’s wheel was introduced in the Middle Bronze Age and lamps were thus made until the 3rd c. BC. In the Hellenistic period increasingly lamps were made using molds. Lamp Molds The use of molds was first developed in Greece and Egypt during the 3rd century BC. In the Roman times, the molds were regularly used in large scale in the different parts of the Roman Empire. The use of molds continued up to the 8th century AD. Molds can be stone, clay, or plaster. Plaster vs. Clay Molds An archetype or patrix is first made. Plaster or clay is then formed around the patrix. It then dries and hardens into a mold. Clay molds are removed from the patrix before they are fully dried. They are then kiln fired, thus they may deviate or shrink from their original form. Clay molds need more labor than plaster ones. These problems are not encountered with plaster. Plaster molds were dried completely and then removed from the patrix. Plaster thus makes an accurate replica, but it has the disadvantage of leaving some surface granular artifacts. However, clay molds are more durable. It is difficult to find the remains of ancient plaster molds as plaster is a perishable material. Some clay molds have been recovered. By studying the surfaces of surviving lamps it seems that plaster was preferred to clay. To make a lamp, two molds are needed: one for the upper part and one for the lower part. Some pairs of molds have knobs and corresponding holes to fit the two molds together. LAMP TYPOLOGY Lamps can be categorized based on different criteria as follows below: The Material of composition Others Shape, structure, design, and imagery (symbolic, religious, mythological, erotic, battles, hunting) are examined. LAMP TYPOLOGICAL CATEGORIES Typologically, ancient lamps can be divided into six major categories
Greek and Egyptian lamps that date before the 3rd century BC. Simple, little or no decoration, wide pour hole. No handles. A lug. Pierced or not. Pierced lugs occurred briefly between 4th and 3rd century BC. Unpierced lugs continued until 1st century BC.
With volutes extending from their nozzles, predominately produced in Italy during the Early Roman period. They have a wide discus, a narrow shoulder and no handle. Elaborate imagery and artistic finishing and wide range of patterns of decoration.
These are late Roman. The shoulder is wider and the discus is smaller with fewer decorations. Have handles and short plain nozzles. Lesser artistic finishing.
This is a regional style lamp exclusively produced in Egypt and found in the regions around it too, between ca. 100 – 300 AD. The frogs are an Egyptian fertility symbol.
Indigenous to North Africa and decorated in a red slip. Second century AD. Wide variety of shapes. A flat, heavily decorated shoulder with a small and relatively shallow discus. Their decoration is either neutral, Christian or Jewish. Grooves run from the nozzle back to the pouring hole, may be to take back slipping oil. Often have more than one pour-hole.
Oval shaped. Found mainly in the leant. Produced between 3rd to 9th century AD. Decorations include vine scrolls, palm wreaths, and Greek letters.
Also called Firmalampen, these are universal in distribution and simple in appearance. They have a channeled nozzle, plain discus, and 2 or 3 depressions on the base with matching protrusions or bumps on the shoulder. These convex and concave elements function like modern day Legos, allowing the lamps to be securely stacked one on top of the other. Initially made in factories in Northern Italy and Southern Gaul between 1st century and 3rd centuries AD. They were exported to all Roman provinces. The vast majority have been stamped to identify the manufacturer. OIL LAMPS IN RELIGION The Bible
Lamps appear in the Bible as “lighting” the way for the righteous, the wise, and for love and other positive values. While fire was described in the Bible as being destructive, light was given a positive spiritual meaning. The oil lamp and its light were important household items in Biblical times, and this may explain their use and connotations in the Bible. Oil lamps were used for many spiritual rituals. They were buried with the dead to comfort the soul and to light the way to the hereafter. They lit the interior of dark tombs. Lamps were used to honor the memory of the deceased as well as acting against “evil spirits”. The oil lamp and its light also became important ritualistic articles with the further development of Jewish culture and its religion. The Quran "God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is, as it were, that of a niche containing a lamp; the lamp is in glass, the glass [shining like a radiant star: lamp lit from a blessed tree - an olive-tree that is neither of the east nor of the west the oil whereof so bright that it would well-nigh give light itself even though fire had not touched it: light upon light! God guides unto His light him that wills be guided ; and this end God propounds parables unto men, since God [alone] has full knowledge of all things". 24:35 ARCHAEOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY It is very difficult to say when and where was the first oil lamp was used. This is partly because it is difficult to draw a line detailing when the primitive forms of creating a continuous source of light from fire can be termed a lamp. The first lamps were made of naturally occurring objects, coconuts, sea shells, egg shells and hollow stones. Some believe that the first proper lamps were carved from stones. Curved stone lamps were found in places dated to the 10th century BC. (Mesolithic, Middle Stone Age Period, circa 10,300 - 8000 BCE) Some Archaeologists claim that the first shell-lamps were in existence more than 6,000 years ago. (Neolithic, Later Stone Age, c. 8500 - 4500 BCE). They believe that the alabaster shell-shaped lamps dug up in Sumerian sites dating 2,600 BCE were imitations of real shell-lamps that were used for long ties. (Early Bronze, Canaanite / Bronze I-IV, c.3300 - 2000 BCE) It is generally agreed that the evolution of handmade lamps moved from bowl-shaped to saucer-shaped, then from saucer with a nozzle to a closed bowl with a spout. Chalcolithic Age,c.4500 - 3300 BCE. The first manufactured red pottery oil lamps appeared. These were of the round bowl type. The Bronze Ages (3200-1200 BCE) Lamps were simple wheelmade bowls with a slight pinch on four sides for the wick. Later lamps had only one pinch. These lamps vary in the shape of the rim, the general shape of the bowl and the shape of the base.
The earliest lamps known from Intermediate Bronze Age lamps (EBIV/MBI) With the four wick lamps. These lamps are made from large bowls with four shallow pinches for wicks.
The four-wick oil lamps persist into this period, most of the lamps now have one wick. Early in this period the pinch is shallow, while later on it becomes more prominent and the mouth protrudes from the lamp's body. The bases are simple and flat. The crude potter’s wheel is introduced, transforming the handmade bowls to a more uniform container. The saucer style evolves into a single spout shape.
A more pronounced, deeper single spout is developed, and it is almost closed on the sides. The shape is evolving to be more triangular, deeper and larger. All lamps are now wheelmade. The base is simple, usually flat. The Iron Age (1200-560 BCE) The rim becomes wider and flatter with a deeper and higher spout. The tip of the spout is more upright in contrast to the rest of the rim. The lamps are becoming variable in shape and distribution. We still find lamps similar to the Late Bronze period. In addition, other forms evolve, such as small lamps with a flat base and larger lamps with a round base. The later form continues into the Iron Age II. In the later Iron Age, we encounter variant forms. One common type is small, with a wide rim and a wide base. Another type is a small, shallow bowl with a thick and high discus base. Persian These large lamps have thin sides and a deep pinch, which flattens the mouth and makes it protrude outward. Greek Lamps are more closed to avoid spilling. They are smaller and more refined. Most are handleless. Some are with a lug, pierced and not pierced. The nozzle is elongated. The rim is folded over to make the nozzle, so it overlaps and is then pinched to make the wick hole. They are round in shape, wheel-made. Early Roman Production of oil-lamps shifted to Italy as the main source of supply. Molds used. All lamps are closed in type. Lamps produced in large scale in factories. The lamp is produced in two parts, the upper part with the spout and the lower part with the fuel chamber. Most are of the characteristic Imperial Type. It was round with nozzles of different forms (volute, semi-volute, U shaped), with a closed body and with a central disk decorated with reliefs and its filling hole. Late Roman The High Imperial Type. More decorations. Produced locally or imported in large scale. The multiple-nozzled lamps appear. Different varieties. In this period we find the frog type laps. These are kidney or heart shaped or oval. With the motif of a frog or its abstraction, and sometimes with geometrical motifs. They were produced around 100 AD. They are so variant that it is seldom that two identical ones are found. Byzantine Slipper shaped. Very decorative. The multiple nozzles continue. Most with handles. Some are complex in external anatomy. Early Islamic There is a transition period from Byzantine to Islamic lamps. Lamps of this transition period changed from being decorated with crosses, animals, human likenesses, birds, fish, etc., to being decorated with plain linear, geometric, and raised dot patterns. The early Islamic lamps are a continuation of Byzantine lamps. Decorations were initially a stylized form of bird, grain, tree, plant or flower. Then they became entirely geometric or linear with raised dots. In the transition period some lamps had Arabic writing. Then, writing disappears until the Mamluk period (13 - 15 C.E.). REGIONAL VARIATIONS Israel/Palestine
Importance of Oil Lamps in India In vedic times, fire was kept alive in every household in some form and carried with oneself while migrating to new locations. Later the presence of fire in the household or a religious building was ensured by an oil lamp. Over the years various rituals and customs were woven around an oil lamp. ''Deep Daan'', the gift of a lamp was and still is believed to be the best daan. During marriages, spinsters of the household stand behind the bride and groom, holding an oil lamp to ward off the evil. The presence of oil lamp is an important aspect of ritual worship (the shodashopachar puja) offered to a deity. Moreover, a day is kept aside for the worship of the lamp in the busy festival calendar, on one amavasya (no moon) day in the month of Shravan. This reverence for the deep is based on the symbolism of the journey from darkness and ignorance to light and the knowledge of the ultimate reality – 'tamaso ma jyotirgamaya!' The earlier lamps were carved out of stone or seashells. The shape was simple like a circular bowl with a protruding beak. Later they were replaced by earthen and metal lamps. In the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata , there are references of gold and silver lamps as well. The simple shape evolved and the lamps were created in the shapes of the matsya (fish), kurma (boar) and other incarnations of god Vishnu and also in the shape of the many attributes of gods like conch shells, lotuses and so on. The birds like swans, peacocks, parrots and animals like snakes, lions, elephants and horses were also favourites while beautifying a lamp. For lighting multiple lamps, wooden and stone deepastambhas (towers of light) were created. Erecting a deepastambha in front of a temple is still a general practice in western and southern India. For adapting the design to the households and smaller spaces, the deepavriksha (tree of light) was formed. As the name suggests, it is a metal lamp container with aesthetically curvi-linear lines branching out from the base each holding a lamp. The Deepalaxmi is another favourite design where goddess Laxmi holds the lamp in her hands. BOOKS AND CATALOGUES General
Western Europe
Middle (Near) East
Aegean
North Africa
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1971-1980 {Link without Title} BIBLIOGRAPHY
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