beeswax

For decades, archaeologists have argued over a strange class of cone-shaped ceramic vessels found at Copper Age (Chalcolithic) sites in the southern Levant. They were made in large numbers, show up in clusters, and then vanish from the record, making them one of the region’s most persistent archaeological riddles. Now, a new systematic study of “cornets” from the site of Teleilat Ghassul in present-day Jordan suggests the simplest answer may be the right one: many of these cones were likely beeswax lamps used in communal ritual vigils and processions, concludes the study. The research team examined dozens of intact vessels and hundreds of diagnostic sherds, and backed up the use-wear observations with experimental reconstructions, showing that wax-filled replicas can burn