Period lighting

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Comyn
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Period lighting

Post by Comyn »

An intact Roman lantern made of bronze, believed by experts to be the only one of its kind in Britain, has been unearthed in a field by a metal-detecting enthusiast
An intact Roman lantern made of bronze, believed by experts to be the only one of its kind in Britain, has been unearthed in a field by a metal-detecting enthusiast
I am aware of the clay oil lamps that were so popular in the ancient world, but being uncomfortable burning these (even with vegetable oil) in my canvas tent (and with children around) I am always on the scout for safer lighting options. I was always under the impression that light sources of the "hurricane lantern" variety were not period (for our purposes), although I've seen the skin lamps sold at Pennsic (and made by our own craftsmen) but a recent article about a rare find in England suggests that these were indeed in use in ancient times and the metal workmanship of these lamps was spectacular! This lamp was found in England, not Ireland - and the Romans supposedly never made it to Ireland (or if they did, they didn't end up trading a whole lot of goods with the proto-Irish) although "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" as they say. The logical next question is where can we get plans to make one (in metal), and how to work the horn that was supposedly used as a wind-break (not glass as in modern versions).

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6802L220100901

As it is frequent that these web news stories disappear, I have re-printed the entirety of the article (with attribution) here.
(Reuters) - An intact Roman lantern made of bronze, believed by experts to be the only one of its kind in Britain, has been unearthed in a field by a metal-detecting enthusiast. The unique artefact which dates from between the 1st and 3rd century AD was discovered by 21-year-old Danny Mills at a detecting rally near Sudbury, Suffolk. Mills reported the find to local archaeologists and the landowner later donated it to the regional museum. Conservator at Colchester and Ipswich Museums, Emma Hogarth, who restored the object said it is a rare and exquisite example of craftsmanship. Archaeologists say the British Museum in London holds only fragments of similar finds and its closest complete double was found at the Roman city of Pompeii in southern Italy. Suffolk is known to have been dotted with plush Roman villas and country estates in the 2nd century and experts speculate it could have been used by a rich landowner to move between his villa and its outhouses at night. The lantern resembles a modern hurricane lamp and the naked flame would have been protected by a thin sheet of horn -- now decomposed -- that had been scraped until it was translucent. "What is particularly amazing about the lantern is that the chains it was suspended from still look and move like any modern chain and had not corroded into a metal lump," said Hogarth. The lantern has recently featured in an episode on the BBC's current "Digging for Britain" series and can be seen at Ipswich Museum.

(Writing by Stefano Ambrogi; Editing by Steve Addison)
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Cormac
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Plans & Horn

Post by Cormac »

It looks pretty straight forward to construct, unless you're going for a copy then there's a fair amount of decorative detail to emulate.

Although I'm by no means an expert on this, I think you may be able to soak the horn in boiling water to make it more pliable. Additionally, the horn may start to de-laminate into sheets thin enough to use without scraping. I know the signaling horn I have has started to peel on the inside after having been exposed to rain one time too many :)
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