Description
Attractive pottery oil lamp decorated around the bowl with a scroll
decoration with a bird either side, the underside decorated with a star.
Islamic, Umayyad Period c.700 AD
Condition: No faults
see The Israel Museum of Jerusalem 495
Early Islamic oil lamps have mostly been recovered in Khirbet el-Mefjer, near Jericho. They appeared at the beginning of the 7th century AD and became widespread during the Umyyad period (7th – 8th century AD), marking profound changes to the local material culture brought by the Moslem conquest of the region. The high degree of uniformity found in the production of oil lamps in the Syrian-Eretz Israel region was the result of the unification of large areas under a centralised government.