4,000-Year-Old Preserved Lamp Wicks Discovered

Archaeology Magazine ^ | September 3, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha:

• Adorable New Species Of Snailfish Filmed 3,268 Meters Below The Sea, And There's A Video [09/08/2025]
• Ancient DNA Pinpoints Culprit Responsible for World's First Pandemic [09/08/2025]
• Assyrian swimmers: 2,900-year-old carving of soldiers using inflatable goat skins to cross a river By published [09/10/2025]
• Celtic Warrior Figurine Recovered from Iron Age Oppidum [09/09/2025]
• Earliest Evidence of Indigo Processing Identified on Paleolithic Tools [09/13/2025]
• Hornelund Brooches: Viking age gold ornaments mysteriously buried in Denmark 1,000 years ago [09/10/2025]
• Intact Roman helmet from First Punic War discovered [09/09/2025]
• Lost for a Century: First-Ever Images Reveal Sunken WWI Submarine's Final Resting Place [09/08/2025]
• Maya Children Also Received Dental Inlays [09/13/2025]
• Meskalamdug's Helmet: One of the world's oldest helmets depicts a Mesopotamian prince's man bun [09/10/2025]
• New Investigation of Aristotle's Ancient School [09/13/2025]
• Rare Figurine Illuminates Viking Hairstyles [09/10/2025]
• Researchers Piece Together Identities of Neolithic Massacre Victims [09/11/2025]
• Study Examines Ship Artillery from Europe's Age of Exploration [09/12/2025]
• Traveling in the wake of the Vikings [5:35] [09/12/2025]
• 2,800-Year-Old Lydian Palace Unearthed in Turkey [09/11/2025]
• Vounous Bowl: A 4,000-year-old basin holding 4 miniature cows and 18 people -- that was buried for mysterious reasons in a Bronze Age tomb in Cyprus [09/08/2025]
• The War on World War II: Why False Revisionism Must Be Defeated [09/09/2025]

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

Oil lamp and textile wick

Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority

[central_va]

Very enlightening.

[Carl Vehse]

"They then underwent a type of "fossilization" process over time that accounts for their preservation for thousands of years."

This "fossilization" process has been used on politicians in the U.S. Senate to preserve them in office for thousands of years.

[equaviator]

[DannyTN]

Better to have them and not need them than
need them and not have them.

[Ezekiel]

What was that which is produced from the ground, yet produces it, while its food is the fruit of the ground? — A wick.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_riddles#Solomon_and_the_Queen_of_Sheba

[zeestephen]

Raises an interesting question.

How did you light a wick without a constant flame source?

Would you have to light a fire every time you wanted to light a lamp?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

You generally would always have live coals in your house because you need to cook food.

If you do not have any you would ask a neighbor and for sure the village baker has live coals.

Many cultures at that time had a festival where all fires in a community would be put out and rekindled once a year. These festivals ranged from the benign (fire is kindled in one area and then all fires in the community are lit showing how we share what we have) to the truly horrific (let's not go there. You can look it up).

[SunkenCiv]

😉

[SunkenCiv]

Probably the same company that has sock kits that rely on self-harvested navel lint.

[SunkenCiv]

Yup, keep the home fires burning isn’t just a recent expression.

[SunkenCiv]

The last person who visited during the Bronze Age must have abided by that rule of thumb, as there were a few left.

[GingisK]

How did you light a wick without a constant flame source?

Flint and steel does the trick.

[central_va]

They made a movie about that called “Quest For Fire”.

[minnesota_bound]

Any BIC lighters found yet?

[SunkenCiv]

😉

[Red Badger]

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEdfbGO2yNk