Holy Land lamps, such as this fine example, 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.
To discover more about oil lamps, please visit our relevant blog post: Lighting The Way.
