Back to the Egyptian World Before Exodus 3,800 years ago and How They Saw in the Dark: Starting Fires, Oil lamps

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                                                                              

• Before the ancient Egyptians, there were the earlier form of man  called Neanderthals.  Neanderthals living in France roughly 50,000 years ago regularly started fires by striking flint with hard minerals like pyrite to generate a spark,
  
  The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS₂. Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold, hence the well-known nickname of fool's gold
  according to a paper published in the scientific journal Nature.  This must have been passed onto the Egyptians. 

                                                         

Flint is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the  mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fires.

It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white or brown in colour, and often has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white and rough in texture. The nodules can often be found along streams and beaches.

Flint breaks and chips into sharp-edged pieces, making it useful for knife blades and other cutting tools. The use of flint to make stone tools dates back hundreds of thousands of years, and flint's extreme durability has made it possible to accurately date its use over this time. Flint is one of the primary materials used to define the Stone Age.

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In ancient times the people needed fire for warmth, light and they needed it to prepare food. These things are all very important to live a normal live. If the fire went out the people in the house had a problem. How would a Roman soldier start a fire if he wanted to prepare his food? Fire is very important for survival, and to start a fire everyday by striking a piece of metal with a piece of flint isn't very practical.                                                  

I've been told that Boy Scouts can rub 2 sticks of wood together to start a campfire. Here's a video on   how to rub 2 sticks together to make fire  as seen below under Resources or here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFMoD9Ez_Bk From a survivalist, " I like survival and I tried to make fire with the things the Romans used, flint and steel, but flint and steel are very unpractical, it takes a long time and you have to carry a lot of flint. You also need a piece of dried tinderfungus, ( a fungus that grows on trees in Europe, northern Asia and in North America.) because the sparks are just not hot enough to start a fire. The tinderfungus began to smoke and produced an ember, which you could then place on a tinder, very unpractical, and if you waste your tinder-fungus, you waste your food.   Ötzi the iceman carried one with him, but that was long before the Greeks and Romans got powerful. Egyptians would have used something else native to their land of palm trees.  

The Greeksand Romans must have had a better and more practical way to start a fire.   How did the Greeks and Romans make a fire? Are there any  other methods?"    Both Greek and Roman writers wrote of burning glasses or lenses that were used to light fires. ... Aristophanes, in his play The Clouds, describes a burning lens. Little is known about the first attempts to make glass. However, it is generally believed that glassmaking was discovered 4,000 years ago, or more, in Mesopotamia. The Roman historian Pliny attributed the origin of glassmaking to Phoenician sailors. However,  recent discoveries elsewhere are leading them to believe that Egypt may have been the place where glassmaking originated.

How Glass Was Made
Glass-making in Ancient Egypt began with quartz. Small pieces of the mineral would be finely crushed and mixed with plant ash. The quartz-ash mixture was then heated at fairly low temperatures in clay containers to roughly 750° C, until it formed a ball of molten material. This material, called faience, was then cooled, crushed, and mixed with coloring agents to make it red or blue. After coloring the glass would be funneled into a cylindrical container and heated a second time at a higher temperature. Once the container cooled it would be broken and the thick glass ingots that formed during the cooling process were removed.

 Pottery lamps were used as a source of light by all Romans. Artificial light was common throughout the Roman Empire, and pottery oil lamps offered an alternative to candle light. 

                                                 

A rich Roman family prepares for a pleasant evening.  Dinner is being cooked in the kitchen and a slave lights the lamps and candles.  Father pays a merchant for a piece of furniture and the children play games. 

Candles, made from beeswax or tallow, were cheaper to buy but do not survive as well.  In about 500 BCE, Candles were first mentioned in Biblical times, as early as the tenth century BCE. These early candles were made of wicks stuck into containers filled with a flammable material. The first dipped candles were made by the  Romans from rendered animal fat called tallow.                                         

• Candle – Ancient Egyptians developed torches that were similar to candles. However, the invention of the candle is given to the Romans.  Torches could only be used in the open air or in caves, not in tents or shelters. Thousands of years later, when Man was living in cities, with houses and palaces and temples, torches could be used in large stone or brick buildings with high ceilings, such as the Great Hall of a King’s Palace

Egyptians back then created the Egyptian bow-drill to start fires.   ALASTAIREWEN   said, "I learnt that rotten wood with a spongy texture extends the small ember produced through friction fire; that slightly punky pale-coloured sycamore with a black streak of fungus through it makes an excellent hearth board; that the broad blond blades of purple moor grass are highly flammable and an ideal material for a tinder nest; that limpet shells provide a friction free bearing block; and that tying off just one end of the bow cord and holding other between my fingers allows me to maintain just the right tension, preventing the cord from either snapping or becoming too loose. What I hadn’t learnt to do, however, was use stone tools. I’d relied on a knife to shape the spindle, cut the V-shaped notch in the hearth board and prepare and split spruce roots. I felt that if I could experiment with stone tools I might a new insight into the experience of those hunter gatherers."                                   

                                                                              

The term "Egyptian" bow-drill refers to an alternate way of winding the string around the spindle. Basically, it involves winding the string several times around the spindle. This has the advantage that it spins the drill (spindle) a lot more smoothly, and reduces wear on the string.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFMoD9Ez_Bk

The Egyptians also used the Egyptian bow drill and used friction with this to start a fire.   Many novices are plagued by two problems when they try to start a fire with a bow drill. First, the cord isn't wrapped tightly enough around the spindle so the cord slips, the spindle stops spinning, increased rubbing weakens the cord away.  The spindle then slides out of the socket and propelled by the increasing tension in the string, flies through the air and pokes someone in the eye. Whoooaaa!  Leave it to the ancient Egyptians. They placed an extra long cord on the bow and either tied the middle of the cord around the spindle or passed the cord through a hole drilled in the middle of the spindle. Next, they wrapped the extra length of cord around the spindle. Now slippage of the cord is impossible and the spindle can't flip into someone's eye.  This non-slip connection between the cord and spindle may also allow the use of a thinner, weaker cord.  This would be used only in the hands of experts, not for the average Egyptian trying to light his oil lamp, I would imagine.  

The fire an Egyptian would start to cook food would be stoked and kept and used for his oil lamps.  The matter that bothers me is that both male and female would be out working as they were slaves.  One could not stay and tend both small children too young to slave  and fire, could one?  it must have been that the wife could stay in to do this while the husband slaved.  How else could they manage?  

                                                   

Now, what was used for wicks for the oil lamps?   The lamps were made of stone  or clay and their sizes and shapes of lamps could be different, but mostly were elliptical or half-moon shaped. The wicks were mostly made of dried moss or cotton-grass and were lit along the edge of the lamp. A slab of seal blubber could be left to melt over the lamp feeding it with more fat.  If olive oil was used,  they dealt with it in a different way.  As well as the archaeological evidence, the use of cotton in Egypt and along the Nile Valley has been documented by classical authors. Cotton was from domestic seeds right from Egypt.  

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   Light.  An Egyptian 3800 years ago would not turn on the light by finding a switch on the wall.  He would light his oil lamp, but not with a match.  How did he do it and how did this oil lamp work?  Olive oil was the most popular and produced the clearest light. Usually olive oil was used for religious ceremonies, but it was also used by the nobles for illumination.
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Some of the earliest lamps, dating to the Upper Paleolithic, were stones with depressions in which animal fats were likely burned as a source of light. Shells, such as conch or oyster, were also employed as lamps, and even may have served as the prototype for early lamp forms.

 Clay lamps appeared during the Bronze Age around the 16th century BCE and were ubiquitous throughout the Roman Empire. Initially, they took the form of a saucer with a floating wick.  Soon after, these saucers began to develop a pinched or folded rim which resulted in a nozzle and served the purpose of holding the wick in place, thus controlling the flame as well as the smoke. Lamps with folded rims are often referred to as “cocked-hat” lamps.  As they evolved, clay lamps became more enclosed, moving from a pinched nozzle to a bridged nozzle, and sporting the addition of a rim. These changes aided in reducing the amount of oil lost through spillage.  Lamps also began to show signs of experimentation with changes in overall body shape and the addition of multiple nozzles, a handle, and clay slips, a coating that was applied to the outside of clay lamps during production in an effort to prevent oil from seeping through the porous clay. These technological advances have been accredited to the Greeks, whose lamps were exported all over the Mediterranean between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE due to their high quality of craftsmanship.

                                                              

Clay lamps were manufactured using a number of methods. They could be hand-molded, wheel thrown, or impressed into a mold. Some show signs of being made using a combination of these methods. Clay lamps make up the majority of lamps found in the archaeological record.

Lamps appear in the Torah and other Jewish sources as a symbol of "lighting" the way for the righteous, the wise, and for love and other positive values. While fire was often described as being destructive, light was given a positive spiritual meaning. The oil lamp and its light were important household items, and this may explain their symbolism.                                

Oil lamps were used for many spiritual rituals. The oil lamp and its light also became important ritualistic articles with the further development of Jewish culture and religion. The Temple Menorah, a ritual seven-branched oil lamp used in the Second Temple, forms the centre of the Chanukah story.  This one above has 8 and is a Chanukiah Menorah. 

An oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times.

The oil lamp produces light through a wick that is lit using a match. The wick fails to burn away because it is constantly absorbing fuel, which burns instead of the cloth. The oil used is stored in an empty container located at the bottom of the oil lantern. ... A dirty wick usually produces an unstable and sooty flame.

Sources of fuel for oil lamps include a wide variety of plants such as nuts (walnuts, almonds, and kukui) and seeds (sesame, olive, castor, or flax). Also widely used were animal fats (butter, ghee, fish oil, shark liver, whale blubber, or seal). Camphine, a blend of turpentine and ethanol, was the first "burning fluid" fuel for lamps after whale oil supplies were depleted. 

After the British Mandate-era discovery, the location of the cistern was lost and remained a mystery despite all efforts to locate it — until now. These clay lamps came from the cistern.  

                                                       

 It took a very long time to invent today's match.  Prior to the use of matches, fires were sometimes lit using a burning glass (a lens) to focus the sun on tinder, a method that could only work on sunny days. Another more common method was igniting tinder with sparks produced by striking flint and steel, or by sharply increasing air pressure in a fire piston. Early work had been done by alchemist Hennig Brand, who discovered the flammable nature of phosphorus in 1669. Others, including Robert Boyle and his assistant, Ambrose Godfrey, continued these experiments in the 1680s with phosphorus and sulfur, but their efforts did not produce practical and inexpensive methods for generating fires.  The first modern, self-igniting match was invented in 1805 by Jean Chancel, assistant to Professor Louis Jacques Thénard of Paris.

Resource:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFMoD9Ez_Bk

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ancient-oil-lamp-haul-found-near-beit-shemesh-digs-up-solution-to-modern-mystery/#:~:text=Archaeologists%20said%20Monday%20that%20they,more%20than%2085%20years%20ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egyptian_inventions_and_discoveries

https://www.mpm.edu/research-collections/anthropology/anthropology-collections-research/mediterranean-oil-lamps/description-and-history-oil-lamps#:~:text=Initially%2C%20they%20took%20the%20form,saucer%20with%20a%20floating%20wick.&text=Open%20saucer%20lamp.,as%20well%20as%20the%20smoke.

https://historum.com/threads/how-did-the-romans-and-greeks-start-fire.68744/

https://www.primitiveways.com/e-fire.html

https://www.futurity.org/ancient-egypt-used-local-cotton-crops/#:~:text=As%20well%20as%20the%20archaeological,been%20documented%20by%20classical%20authors.&text=The%20study%20also%20looked%20at,and%20nearly%204%2C000%20years%20old.

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk00aasPBigYb2HrF0VX-917L30HDjw%3A1614185521488&source=hp&ei=MYQ2YKiMG5Hl-gSy1rDoBg&iflsig=AINFCbYAAAAAYDaSQUZZZiqAKEerW0kVdFfP0CihYu94&q=The+Egyptian+bow+drill&oq=The+Egyptian+bow+drill&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyCAghEBYQHRAeMggIIRAWEB0QHjIICCEQFhAdEB46BAgjECc6BQgAEJECOggILhCxAxCDAToLCC4QsQMQxwEQowI6CAgAELEDEIMBOgQILhAnOgQILhBDOgQIABBDOgUILhCRAjoFCAAQsQM6AgguOgUILhCxAzoCCAA6BwguELEDEEM6CAguEMcBEK8BOgcIABCHAhAUOgUILhCTAjoGCAAQFhAeUNgPWM0yYJ82aABwAHgAgAF6iAHIDZIBBDIwLjKYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwjo6O3U_YLvAhWRsp4KHTIrDG0Q4dUDCAk&uact=5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk00J9pLTbc4DHDX8WtkKrlv1XRY--Q%3A1614186405244&source=hp&ei=pYc2YIr1C8P5-gTK64eYCA&iflsig=AINFCbYAAAAAYDaVtZIBJYccI2VvONasUh7u7LRobvDk&q=how+to+rub+2+sticks+together+to+make+fire&oq=rub+2+sti&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYBTICCAAyBggAEBYQHjIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDOgQIIxAnOgsILhCxAxDHARCjAjoICC4QxwEQowI6DgguELEDEIMBEMcBEKMCOgUIABCxAzoICAAQsQMQgwE6BwguECcQkwI6BAguECc6BAgAEEM6BAguEEM6BQguELEDOggILhCxAxCDAToCCC46BwgAELEDEEM6CgguEMcBEK8BEEM6CAguEMcBEK8BOgcIABCHAhAUOgQILhAKOggIABAWEAoQHlDPDViUIGCkXmgAcAB4AIABWIgBtgWSAQE5mAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpeg&sclient=gws-wiz#kpvalbx=_soc2YL6EDcHy-gSsv4jADA33

how to rub 2 sticks together to start a fire;   https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk00J9pLTbc4DHDX8WtkKrlv1XRY--Q%3A1614186405244&source=hp&ei=pYc2YIr1C8P5-gTK64eYCA&iflsig=AINFCbYAAAAAYDaVtZIBJYccI2VvONasUh7u7LRobvDk&q=how+to+rub+2+sticks+together+to+make+fire&oq=rub+2+sti&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYBTICCAAyBggAEBYQHjIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDOgQIIxAnOgsILhCxAxDHARCjAjoICC4QxwEQowI6DgguELEDEIMBEMcBEKMCOgUIABCxAzoICAAQsQMQgwE6BwguECcQkwI6BAguECc6BAgAEEM6BAguEEM6BQguELEDOggILhCxAxCDAToCCC46BwgAELEDEEM6CgguEMcBEK8BEEM6CAguEMcBEK8BOgcIABCHAhAUOgQILhAKOggIABAWEAoQHlDPDViUIGCkXmgAcAB4AIABWIgBtgWSAQE5mAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpeg&sclient=gws-wiz#kpvalbx=_soc2YL6EDcHy-gSsv4jADA33

https://exarc.net/issue-2020-3/ea/experiment-kindling-oil-lamps#:~:text=Olive%20oil%20was%20the%20most%20popular%20and%20produced%20the%20clearest,by%20the%20nobles%20for%20illumination.

http://www.barrygraygillingham.com/Egypt/Lighting.html

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk01LamyMOj-ICtypNU5Q6Leb714mxw:1614199329848&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=history+of+roman+candles,+pictures&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjToJuNsYPvAhUNrp4KHfjXCWwQ7Al6BAgDEEI&biw=1873&bih=898#imgrc=kX8n9qU8-dXrYM

https://www.blindschalet.com/kba-glass-making-in-ancient-egypt-247.html#:~:text=The%20first%20evidence%20of%20humans,the%20place%20where%20glassmaking%20originated.

https://www.cmog.org/article/origins-glassmaking#:~:text=Little%20is%20known%20about%20the,of%20glassmaking%20to%20Phoenician%20sailors.

https://www.quora.com/What-did-the-ancient-Greeks-BC-use-to-start-fires-light-torches-etc#:~:text=Both%20Greek%20and%20Roman%20writers,were%20used%20to%20light%20fires.&text=Aristophanes%2C%20in%20his%20play%20The%20Clouds%2C%20describes%20a%20burning%20lens.