Preferential Distribution of Lamps from the Jerusalem Area in the Late Second Temple Period (Late First Century B.C.E.-70 C.E.)

Abstract

This is a systematic, regional, analytical study on the origins of the lamp, the most common lamp in late Second Temple-period Judaea. The project included 176 Herodian lamps from the northern sites of Gamala, Iotapata, Sepphoris, Dora, and Scythopolis, as well as several hundred examples of non-cooking ware of this period from the Galilee and Colon, and from Jerusalem and nearby sites. All samples were measured using both instrumental neutron activation and high-precision X-ray fluorescence analyses, and three statistical approaches were employed to evaluate the chemical compositional data. Ninety-six samples were also analyzed micromorphologically. The study showed that Herodian lamps from the Jerusalem area were found at all of the sampled northern settlements, but such lamps were also made in the north from a variety of locally available raw materials. The latter accounted for most of the Herodian lamps at the predominantly gentile cities of Dora and Scythopolis. The Jewish sites, in contrast, even when located at considerably greater distances from Jerusalem than the predominantly gentile cities, obtained the large majority of their Herodian lamps from the Jerusalem area. Possible reasons for this pronounced preference of the northern Jewish settlements for lamps from the Jerusalem area are discussed.