BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Rare Wick Discovery Illuminates Bronze Age Burials

Recycled textiles used to light lamps

Excavations at the site of Neve Efraim, near Tel Aviv, have revealed three of the oldest lamp wicks ever discovered. Although wicks may seem like simple, commonplace objects, their features have made them incredibly rare finds in archaeology, especially within older sites. This discovery by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) thus provides a rare light (pun intended) on illumination in the ancient world.

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Lamp Light

The three wicks were discovered in a group of tombs dated to the Intermediate Bronze Age (also called the Early Bronze Age IV; c. 2500–2000 BCE). This dating makes the wicks the oldest ever discovered in Israel and some of the earliest ever found anywhere in the world. Researchers were able to confidently identify them as wicks, since all three were found inside lamps, and two showed signs of having been burned. According to the excavation directors, the wicks likely helped illuminate the underground tombs during burial preparations and ceremonies. In addition, it is possible that fire already played a critical symbolic role within burial ceremonies, possibly even as a stand-in for the soul of the deceased, as it does in many cultures today.

The discovery of ancient wicks is extremely rare for two reasons. First, wicks are made from organic materials that easily decompose over time. Second, wicks are typically burned entirely during illumination and thus leave behind very few traces. Beyond these features, even when wicks are preserved, they are often hard to identify unless they are discovered inside lamps. According to IAA researchers Naama Sukenik and Yonah Maor, “This is a unique discovery that we did not expect could ever be found in the moist Mediterranean climate; these wicks are among the few of their era known to us in the world.”

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Analyzing the wicks in the IAA’s labs, the researchers discovered that all three were made of reused linen fabric, possibly as a way of recycling old cloth. “It is unlikely that an expensive textile such as linen would have been woven especially for an object intended for combustion,” said Sukenik. “According to our analysis, we can reconstruct this wick as made from textile cut into long strips that were twisted together. The secondary use of textiles indicates smart economic conduct, in which precious raw materials were maximally utilized.”

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