Oil lamp

An oil lamp burns liquid oil drawn through a wick to produce light. Its fuel reservoir and wick regulate the flame without pressurized gas or electricity.

Wick: A strand or bundle of fibers that draws liquid fuel upward by capillary action. It carries oil from the reservoir to the flame.
Upper Paleolithic: The later part of the Old Stone Age, beginning roughly 50,000 years ago in many regions. Some of the earliest known stone lamps date to this period.
Domestic lighting: Artificial illumination used inside homes for daily activities. Oil lamps lit household work and rooms after dark.
Candle: A combustible object with an embedded wick that produces light as its wax or fat melts and burns. Unlike an oil lamp, a candle stores fuel in solid form around its wick.
Artificial light at night: Human-produced illumination used during nighttime hours. Oil lamps were a major source of artificial light before electrification.
Capillary action: The movement of liquid through narrow spaces due to adhesion, cohesion, and surface tension. It explains how oil rises through the lamp’s wick.
Paleolithic stone lamps: Early lamps made by hollowing stone and burning animal fat with a wick. They show how simple reservoirs and wicks provided prehistoric light.
Ancient Greek religion: The practices and beliefs through which ancient Greeks worshipped their gods and honored the dead. Lamps appeared in sanctuaries, tombs, and household rites.
Gas lighting: Illumination produced by burning a supplied fuel gas, commonly in a mantle or open flame. Gas lighting replaces a liquid reservoir and wick with a gas supply.
History of lighting: The development of technologies and practices for producing artificial illumination. Oil lamps mark a long-lasting stage in lighting technology.

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Street lightingNarrower topic: Oil lamps were among the fuel-burning technologies used to illuminate streets before widespread electrification.