Gunneweg, Jan and Perlman, I. 1985, The Origin of the 'Herodian` Lamp, in Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 79-83 The "Herodian" oil lamp In this study, the 'Herodian' lamp, thought to be from Herod's period (30-4 B.C.E.), hence 'Herodian', was sampled from various Israeli sites and subjected to instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) to learn whether it was made in one or in several potter's centre(s). The bulk of the early type of lamps was found within the Jerusalem region, but also in Nabataean Oboda. The chemical composition was traced to the Motza clay Formation located in Jerusalem. This profile was corroborated by an independent match with reference pottery from ancient Jerusalem from the Iron Age II and from the Hasmonaean/Herodian and Mammeluk periods, covering 1600 years of pottery production. The chemical composition of this reference group has been used successfully to assign provenience to the early type of Herodian lamps. In fact, they all originated in or around Jerusalem, as a result of which, they can also be dated more precisely to the time span of C.E. 6-70 for sure whereas the lamps probably continued to be made locally until the Bar Koziba Revolt. The later type of 'Herodian' lamp may have persisted until C.E. 130. The "Herodian" oil lamp Comments? Please write: Jan Gunneweg To return, click Archaeometry abstracts of our work or click "BACK" or click the Homepage . Jan Gunneweg Ph.D., The Hebrew University, revised November 2005