Description: oil lamp or lantern. 10.7 × 7.8 × 3.5 cm. Rounded body with a small, solid rounded handle. The top of the piece has a concave, smooth disc with a fuel hole and a smaller ventilation hole (oculus). The spout (rostrum) is of medium length, with an open, curved channel and a mixus (lighting hole). The incomplete inscription (AB AS) SENE L(VC)ERNAS VENALES appears on the rim. Translation: Asenio’s saleable oil lamps.
Material and manufacture: Moulded with clay and fired in a kiln.
Function: Night-time lighting in domestic, work, funeral or worship contexts.
Place of origin: Peñón de Salobreña. These oil lamps were manufactured in the potteries of Mauritania Caesariensis (on the coast of present-day Algeria).
Culture and chronology: 4th–5th centuries.
Historical-archaeological context: These are African products that break with the usual religious significance through the representation of Christian symbols and plant motifs. These oil lamps have recently been highlighted as an example of ancient marketing by the potter Asenio, who used his own oil lamps for advertising purposes. Although we have no archaeological evidence of the existence of an urban centre in Salobreña, we do have evidence of a Christian community probably associated with a port vicus (village), which was represented by the priest Silvanus at the Council of Iliberis (Granada).