Rare, 1,700-year-old lamp found in Jerusalem excavation
The lamp was uncovered just in time to be displayed for the public on Hanukkah this year
A ceramic oil lamp from the late Roman period was uncovered near the Mountain of Olives in Jerusalem during an excavation, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Thursday.
Decorated with the Temple menorah, an incense shovel, and a lulav (a ceremonial Jewish date palm branch), the rare find dates back 1,700 years, judging by the soot remains on its nozzle.
"The exquisite artistic workmanship of the lamp, which was found complete, makes it an outstanding and extremely rare," said Michael Chernin, excavation director for the Israel Antiquities Authority.
"Just as today many of us possess objects of Jewish significance, so did the lamp’s owner, some 200 years after the Temple’s destruction," the authority's researchers said.
Very few archaeological evidence survives from Jewish communities in Jerusalem and its surroundings from its period, following the expulsion of Jews after the suppression of the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE by Emperor Hadrian.
"This unique oil lamp, which in an exciting manner bears the symbols of the Temple, connects the lights of the past with the Chanukah holiday of today, and expresses the deep and long-standing connection of the nation of Israel to its heritage and to the Temple’s memory," said Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu.
The lamp will be displayed for the first time during the Hanukkah holiday at the JAy and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for Archaeology of Israel.