Troops mustering near Gaza border turn up tiny Byzantine-era lamp
Two members of the 282nd Artillery Regiment receive good citizenship award from the Israel Antiquities Authority for turning their discovery over to experts
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
A pair of reserve IDF soldiers called up for the war on Hamas recently found a small, 1,500-year-old oil lamp near the border with Gaza and turned it over to the Israel Antiquities Authority, officials said Tuesday.
The soldiers, members of a reserve unit of the 282nd Artillery Regiment, found the ancient lamp intact in a staging area inside Israeli territory along the Gaza border.
“I came across pottery lying upside down and was attracted by its round shape. It was covered in mud,” said Netanel Melchior, one of the soldiers, according to an IAA press release.
After the piece was cleaned and they realized it was unusual, another soldier, Alon Segev, uploaded a picture to social media, where it started to receive a lot of attention. It was then that the pair realized they should turn it over to experts.
The soldiers passed the artifact to Sarah Tal, IAA archaeologist in charge of the Western Negev region. They received a good citizenship certificate from the IAA for turning over the find.
Small ceramic lamps of this type, also called “sandal candles,” were filled with oil and used for indoor lighting in the region since “ancient times,” Tal said. This particular candle was identified as being from the Byzantine period and likely from the 5th or 6th century CE.
Under Israel law, any man-made object from before the year 1700 is defined as an antiquity, and if found by a citizen must be turned over to the IAA within 15 days.
Even in wartime, the IAA cooperates with the IDF to preserve historical and archaeological findings, IAA director-general Eli Escusido said.
“I am happy that the soldiers brought the ancient candle to light. I congratulate them for their vigilance and their demonstration of good citizenship,” he said.
