Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

TELL LARAMA

EGYPT

PL 04/317 [Fig. 1}
Theatre area, western parodos.
Reddish brown fabric, brown slipped.
Wheel-made. Round body, undecorated
reservoir, two concentric grooves around fill
hole. Probably long nozzle (damaged).
Fragmentary.
Alexandrian-influenced Hellenistic
lamp (cf. Mlynarczyk 1997: Type A, Fig. 5),
comparable to a lamp in the British
Museum collection considered as probably
Egyptian, from the 1st century BC into the
1st century AD (Bailey 1975: PI. 112,
Q 589, 271-272).
PL 04/330 [Fig. 1}
Theatre area, western parodos.
Orange brown fabric, black glaze inside and
out, thinned wash on rim. Wheel-made.
Fragmentary.
The fabric and profile of this lamp is
paralleled by a group of 4th century BC
Athenian lamps from the British Museum
(Bailey 1975: PL 15, Q 71 and Q 76, 51-
53), including a lamp from A1 Mina dated
to the first third of the 4th century BC
(Bailey 1975: Pis 16 and 17, Q 78, 53).
PL 04/372 [Fig. 1]
Theatre area, western edge of orchestra.
Light orange-cream fabric, creamy slip.
Wheel-made. Flat-topped nozzle, rounded
at the tip; inward-sloping rim emphasized
with a groove. Fragmentary.
Fabric and shape most similar to a lamp
of unknown provenience from the British
Museum, dated to the first half of the 3rd
century BC or a little later (Bailey 1975: PI.
138, Q 747, 354). Another close parallel is
a 3rd century BC North African lamp, now
in the Sabratha Museum (Joly 1974: Tav. I,
n. 6, 17).

LATE ROMAN LAMPS
The function of the theater area as a rubbish
dump in the period after its abandonment
needs to be kept in mind (Jakubiak 2005:
61-68). The Hellenistic material presented
above was found deposited next to relatively
late material, like a 2nd century AD lamp
with palm motif (close parallel from
Mons Claudianus, especially no. 30 from
a Hadrianic context, cf. Knowles 2006:
Fig. 5.3, 342, 344) and lamp PL 04/368.
PL 04/368 [Fig. 2]
Theatre area, western edge of orchestra.
Dull brown fabric, unslipped. Mouldmade.
Handle with two vertical grooves. Damaged
body, two grooves on shoulders.
Popular 4th century type, identifiable
thanks to the characteristic handle. Known
analogies present different discus motifs,
e.g. menorah (Bailey 1988: PI. 44, Q 2061,
MLA, lamp from Egypt, Loeschcke Type
VIII) and monogrammed cross (Bailey
1988: PI. 44, Q 2066, lamp from Egypt,
Loeschcke Type VIII). The same type is
represented by a group of lamps from a late
4th century AD deposit from Kom el-
Dikka, Alexandria (Mlynarczyk 1995).
A similar example from Saqqara has been
linked with 4th century AD Alexandrian
material (Bailey 2001: 119-135, PI.
XVIII. 18). Several similar lamp fragments
dated to the late 3rd and 4th century AD
come from earlier French excavations at
Pelusium (Dixneuf 2003: 91, PI. 19:la-lc).
This type, presumably connected with
Alexandrian designs, seems to have been
very popular at the site.
Among the mass of typical lamps from
Roman and Late Roman Egypt found in
Pelusium, the following are distinctive.

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