THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY OF ANCIENT JERUSALEM AS SEEN THROUGH CHOICES IN LIGHTING OILS* D. NAMDAR† and A. AMRANI Institute of Earth Science, Department of Geology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Giv’at Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel D. BEN-AMI, M. HAGBI, N. SZANTON, Y. TCHEKHANOVETS, J. UZIEL and B. ROSEN Israel Antiquities Authority, POB 586, Jerusalem 91004, Israel A. DAG Gilat Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, mobile post Negev 85280, Israel and Y. GADOT The Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University, Haim Levanon Street, Ramat Aviv, POB 39040, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel This paper presents and discusses the results of residue analysis conducted on 78 ceramic lamps found in archaeological excavations in ancient Jerusalem, in an attempt to identify the types of oils used and the reasons for their preferential choice. The oil lamps chosen for the study were taken from a variety of contexts, which represent the different periods during which Jerusalem was settled and the different sectors of the city. The results of the study show that even the most mundane activity of lighting using oil held within it social and economic choices, as mirrored in the different excavation areas. KEYWORDS: CITY OF DAVID, EARLY ROMAN, LIPID RESIDUE ANALYSIS, GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY/MASS SPECTROMETRY, OIL LAMPS, OLIVE OIL INTRODUCTION This paper enquires into the types and sources of oils used by the residents of Jerusalem over the centuries for lighting oil lamps. Despite their commonality, certainly from the Middle Bronze Age and onwards (Amiran 1969), only a few studies have focused on the content of these vessels (e.g., Colombini et al. 2005; Garnier et al. 2009), as the choice of which lighting oils to use is often considered a trivial, rather than a functional, one. However, as is often the case when deciphering the social meanings hidden in the archaeological record, mundane activities and decisions are shaped in conjunction with and simultaneous to the shaping of social values and ideological convention. They also mirror economic constraints or opportunities. For oil lamps, the textual evidence suggests that the preferences with regard to the oils to be used for lighting were not only economically derived but also symbolically charged. For example, the Talmudic tractate Shabbat (Shabbat 2: 1–3) describes the various types of oils and wicks that are prohibited or allowed (and even recommended) to be used on account of ideological considerations. The present study sets out to define patterns in the utilization of oil for lighting. Lipid analysis was conducted on an assemblage of 78 oil lamps found in the excavations of ancient Jerusalem *Received 6 June 2016; accepted 22 February 2017 †Corresponding author: email dvora.namdar@mail.huji.ac.il Archaeometry ••, •• (2017) ••–•• doi: 10.1111/arcm.12316 © 2017 University of Oxford