Oil lamps today are generally decorative, used to lend a rustic or romantic touch to a room, but once, they were the primary source of light for millions of households. Their design has been evolving since prehistoric times to the glass and metal affairs found today.
Primitive Lamps
The earliest oil-burning lamps of fired clay or anything people could find: seashells, hollow stones, ox horns, coconuts and the like. They burned a variety of oils that could be easily pressed from plants, such as castor or linseed oil, or fish oil, crude natural petroleum, even extracts from cheese and other foods.
How They Work
All oil lamps have a vessel of some sort that holds the oil, and a wick, one end of which reaches to the bottom of the vessel, siphoning the oil. The other end is lit, producing a constant flame until the oil is gone. Wicks were made of everything from papyrus to cotton, or even tough grass reeds.
Metal Lamps
Brass and bronze were favored metals for oil lamps from the middle of the Bronze Age on. The Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans all made cast-metal lamps. Their shapes became more decorative and complex as technology advanced, often reflecting cultural influences that help historians to determine where an ancient lamp was made.
Glass Lamps
Modern oil lamps generally have a glass vessel and a glass chimney that can be removed for cleaning. They also have a metal wheel that can turn the wick up or down to produce more light. Kerosene and whale oil were the most common oils used in these lamps.
Cultural Significance
Lamps in many cultures often have a religious significance. As a source of light in times when darkness was universally feared, lamps symbolically "lit the way" toward enlightenment. They were often buried with the dead to drive away evil spirits or light the departed's path toward the next life. Even today lamps burn at thousands of public and private shrines.
Fun Fact
Aladdin's lamp, which held a genie instead of oil, nevertheless was a metal oil-burning type of lamp.
Tags: , were made
