Archaeology of Light: agency and oil lamps in Roman Palestine

Abstract

The Apollonia-Arsuf Excavations (Israel) yielded hundreds of Roman discus lamps, artefacts that were in circulation in the region between II-III centuries CE. The typical pagan and erotic figurative motifs had been intentionally broken off by early members of all monotheistic faiths (Jews, Samaritans, and early Christians). This was an act familiar at other sites in Roman Palestine. This article presents the interpretations obtained so far for this phenomenon and examines how materiality is intimately steeped in social relations, incorporating behaviors and attitudes of the past. The artefacts are capable of multi-vocality and fleeting symbolic acts make their features even more striking in some cases.