Late Roman Lamps from the Port Area of Classe (Ravenna)\Kasnoantičke Svjetiljke s Prostora Luke u Classe (Ravenna)

During 2001-2005 excavation seasons over two thousand oil lamps from the Late Antique period were found inside some warehouses in the port area of Classe. Those were produced in Central Tunisia and were aimed at redistribution to the new Imperial Administration Capital and by the course of the Po river further to the main Mid-North Italian settlements. These items, never used, got deformed by a disastrous fire that had affected and destroyed a number of stores located on the paved road and hereafter to some extent abandoned in the early sixth century. Other oil lamps from the same period were also found in the port area and they were produced in the territory of Romagna, with typical stylized decoration, imitating the same form of the lamp. In the nearby vicinity, it was also found the evidence of local production inside a new early medieval workshop of oil lamps with marl mixture and a printed decoration, such as the so called “Sicilian” types. In this paper I will present the results of the classification of this material, produced over a period of time ranging from the fifth to the eighth century