Oil Lamp

(c. 10,000 B.C.E.)

A flaming lump of fat drives the night away forever.

Today, the basic oil lamp may only be required to provide light when there is a power outage, but versions of it have been used for thousands of years to enable man to see at night and to provide decoration and symbolic potency to ceremonies and festivals. Oil lamps weren't completely replaced until the 1780 introduction of the Argand Lamp and later electric lighting.

According to estimates, the first time rudimentary lamps were used was approximately 80,000 BCE. A lamp is a container that holds flammable oil and has a slow-burning wick that is used to draw fuel from a reserve. Early humans created lamps using crucibles made of stone or shell that were filled with animal fat and had a bit of plant material for the wick.Around 10,000 BCE, the first actual oil lamp and stable agriculture both emerged (the Upper Paleolithic period-otherwise known as the Stone Age). The option for using plant oils, such olive oil, in these lamps arose with the cultivation of the first crops. They served as both a source of light and significant symbolism in rites and ceremonies; the Bible and the Koran both make numerous allusions to them.

Romans made clay lamps in large quantities (a newly made batch was discovered buried in Pompeii by the great eruption of 79 C.E.). Candles gained popularity in the Middle Ages, but they were never able to create an oil lamp-like flame. However, the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century created the push required for invention.Aimé Argand, a physicist, created a brighter lamp with a metal body that burnt oil with a steady, smokeless flame in 1780. However, with the invention of electric illumination, the old technique was finally retired.