Grenoble Archaeological Museum | Two Oil Lamps

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These two little terracotta oil lamps date to the late 3rd to early 4th centuries. I’m probably offending the gods of archaeology somewhere by describing them as ‘cute’, but they so are! 

 Anyone following this series of posts will be aware that I have a near-pathological fascination with artefacts from periods that are rather underrepresented in Ireland. It is true that these lamps closely fit this pattern, but in this instance my fascination is more that they have survived on a site that was repeatedly dug and redug for graves, while buildings were expanded, remodelled, and demolished for more than 1000 years. These two little lamps have survived all this with barely a scratch (relatively speaking ... baring a few fractures & a bit of light restoration ...) … they’re just gorgeous …
Location: Grenoble, France

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