Just in time for Hanukkah, Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of a 4th- or 5th-century workshop for producing oil lamps. The Times of Israel reports:
According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the workshop, in the city of Beit Shemesh—unearthed ahead of the construction of a new neighborhood—contained hundreds of ancient ceramic oil lamps, two of which bore the Jewish symbol of the menorah, as well as stone molds for the production of lamps and terracotta figurines.
But another thing that fascinated the archaeologists was the similarity between the site they discovered and photos published in the 1930s by archaeologist Dimitri Baramki, which led them to solve a decades-long mystery. In 1934, Baramki, an inspector on behalf of the Department of Antiquities during the British Mandate, discovered a water cistern in the region of Beit Shemesh in central Israel west of Jerusalem. . . . Upon excavating the cistern, he uncovered a huge quantity of intact oil lamps bearing animal and plant motifs and geometric designs.
After the British Mandate-era discovery, the location of the cistern was lost and remained a mystery despite all efforts to locate it—until now. The researchers recognized the new site from photos appearing in Baramki’s excavation publication. It even contained items left behind by Baramki himself, including leather baskets used to extract soil and an empty metal box.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/ancient-oil-lamp-haul-found-near-beit-shemesh-digs-up-solution-to-modern-mystery/