ROMAN OIL LAMP OF TERRACOTTA ON SYRIAN COAST: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

In 64 B.C., the Romans turned Syria into a Roman province and this occupation continued, with many vicissitudes, until 638 A.D. when it fell into Arab hands. This occupation originated an important material and social development for almost 400 years. The oil lamps located in Syria were objects located in hypogea (funeral contexts) and in cut pits (domestic contexts) mainly along the Syrian coast, showing aspects of the social, cultural and domestic life.From the data published in the scientific literature, four quantitative variables (length, width, discus diameter and shape index) and two qualitative variables of great archaeological relevance (context and chronology) from Syria oil lamps have been recorded, which has allowed us to analyze the oil lamps by applying bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis. The results obtained indicate different factory patterns regarding the context and chronology as well.The application of Cluster Analysis provides a classification of the oil lamps into a large group consisting of small and very rounded lamps, perhaps dedicated to domestic and everyday use, versus other group with larger and highly stylized lamps, possibly with functionality more associated with burials or ceremonial rituals. Also, the graphics sequences of each variable constitute a pattern for the lamps in each cluster with respect to the metric variables, allowing to graphically comparison between the oil lamps and the variable values also.

Keywords

• chronology
• quantification
• roman oil lamps
• statistical classification
• syrian coast
• terracotta