Exploring chaîne opératoires of Hellenistic ceramic oil lamps from Nea Paphos, Cyprus

Abstract

This paper presents the reconstruction of the chaîne opératoires of local Hellenistic lamps found at the Agora in Nea Paphos. The study is based on detailed macroscopic observations combined with the results of laboratory analyses. It aims at shedding light on the operational sequences of lamp manufacture, from clay processing, through forming, finishing and surface treatments, to firing. The results indicate that the lamps produced in the Nea Paphos area underwent dynamic changes in terms of clay procurement and/or processing, forming techniques and firing, throughout the Hellenistic period. Furthermore, this research revealed indirect evidence suggesting that at least wheel-made lamps were produced in the same workshops as tableware vessels. Setting the results of this study in the broader context of lamp production in the Eastern Mediterranean allows for a better understanding of some aspects of the organization behind their production.

Keywords:

• chaîne opératoires
• ceramic oil lamps
• Hellenistic period
• Nea Paphos
• Cyprus

Acknowledgements

The research would not have been possible without the support of the director of the Paphos Agora Project, Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka and the Department of Antiquities on Cyprus that issued the sampling permit. We would also like to thank Evangelia Kiriatzi and Noémi S. Müller for their support, as well as Adam Oleksiak and Robert Słaboński for the photographs of the lamps used in the paper.

This work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland [grant MAESTRO 6 2014/14/A/HS3/00283].

Notes

1 The previous paper (Kajzer et al. 2021) presents the results of a study focused on the provenance and distribution patterns of the Hellenistic and Early Roman lamps recovered from the Agora in Nea Paphos. The entire assemblage of lamps unearthed between 2011 and 2016 was subjected to typological, macroscopic fabric and quantitative analyses. Additionally, 64 samples covering macroscopic variability were analysed through a refiring test and wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (WD-XRF). These analyses were complemented by thin section petrography. The results indicated that 172 lamps, representing four production groups (PGs), were produced in the Nea Paphos area during the Hellenistic period. The Early Roman assemblage seems to be composed only of imports.

2 The lamp assemblage examined microscopically in this study includes more objects than the previous paper because 31 local Hellenistic lamps, uncovered during the 2017 excavation season, were also taken into consideration.

3 Roux (2019) differentiated two forming techniques among wheel-made vessels: wheel-throwing and wheel-coiling. However, for the purpose of this paper, the terms wheel-made and wheel-thrown are used interchangeably as the only forming technique using the wheel defined for the studied material.

4 During the Byzantine period, after the 7th century CE, the wheel-thrown lamps reappeared. For more information see Motsianos (2019).

5 Interestingly, some workshops did not change the forming technique in Late Hellenistic times. For example, Knidian lamps were still wheel-thrown, and only the decoration had a form of moulded, plastic applications (Kajzer et al. 2021: 314–17; Kögler 2011). Also, the so-called ‘Delian lamps’, known from the Cyclades, were wheel-thrown and made of cooking fabric (Martz 2019). The tradition of wheel-thrown lamps sometimes continued even into 1st–2nd century CE as documented in Corinth (Broneer 1930: 59) and Chalkida (Sampson 1987: 88–90).