Recreating the Birka lamp

During the Viking age, late iron age, light sources were different then what they are now. They used candles and oil lamps. Especially oil lamps have been used throughout the stone age as well. During the iron age baked pottery was used to hold the oil or fat. There are finds from this period which lead to think they were used as light sources, one of these is the find in Birka, Sweden. A ceramic cup, presumably used for holding oil or lard. To be lit at night to light the home.

Oljelampa - Sök i samlingarna

Above you can see the find in Birka, included is a link to the museum page. When visiting Ribe in Denmark, I bought a replica, it was a bit different in shape: a tad shallower. This one I decided to recreate. I really wanted to make one for myself, so off I went to the store to get some clay. I ended up with 10 kg of orange clay, the small amounts were way more expensive. The more the merrier also counts with crafting supplies. Before I knew it I made a ton of lamps. Then came the part where I had to fire the clay to make it ceramic. Luckily I found a studio close-by who wanted to fire my pieces! So, there I went with clay lamps in hand to drop them off. Some time later I got to pick them up again and then came the part where I would fill the lamps with a burnable substance.

Originally the lamps would have been filled with oil or lard. The replica I bought was also filled with this. However our modern noses are not used to the smell that comes with this animal fat. So, for the lamps I made I used beeswax. A much friendlier alternative.

Last ones of the first batch. Freshly poured.

The lamps or candles give a lot of light when lit, a much larger flame then the candle these days. I think this is due to the linnen used for the wick. This burns a bit more unstable. But the outcome looks stunning: big dancing flames. I do recommend using them outside or under strict supervision in a ventilated room.

Here I'm making new candles with black clay.

After maken the clay lamps, I let them dry for a couple of weeks before I bring them to studio kapstok for firing. They have been a great help and are really kind! For a fee you can let them fire your creations. The lamps came out perfect!

After picking them up I immediately started with melting wax and sewing wicks. Melting the wax is kind of a tedious job, but after a lot of stirring and breaking wax strips I got enough melted wax for the first batch of lamps. They came out pretty neat. Sometimes the wax breaks or bubbles but that only happened to a few and these were fixed with putting them in the oven to melt a bit again. Now they are all cooled and wrapped up ready to be sold on my next market!

Thanks again for reading my post and if you like this, you might like my other posts! Feel free to look around!