This article seeks to contribute to the growing scholarship on object-focused Roman histories by expanding the conversation to previously overlooked archaeological finds from Roman Palestine. This case study focuses on “Northern Collar-Neck Lamps,” which have been found throughout Roman Galilee and date to the first two centuries CE. I argue that their distinctive high collar, perhaps designed to reduce spillage, also served as an affordance that invited additional modes of interaction, namely placing a supplemental reservoir for oil – such as a pierced eggshell – over the filling hole. Once set up, this would allow for a slow drip of oil to prolong illumination time without human intervention. This usage is suggested from chronologically and geographically proximate sources, namely early rabbinic literature: Hebrew and Aramaic writings from the first centuries that reference physical details and uses of hundreds of objects and could prove helpful for future material histories of the Roman era.

In 2003, rescue excavations at Piazzeta dell'Anfiteatro, Trento, identified an extramural funerary area dated to the 5th c. CE. The necropolis yielded 45 coins (3rd–5th c.), most of which were involuntary losses. Owing to the sound stratigraphy of the site, these coins present a reliable sample of coinage circulating in Tridentum during the 5th c. This study presents a brief synthesis of the transformations undergone by the Late Antique city, so as to understand the dynamics attested in Piazzeta dell'Anfiteatro, a description of the stratigraphic units that contained coins, and a detailed analysis of the coins from several perspectives. The aim is to improve our understanding of the Late Antique monetary history of the city and Trentino's territory.