Study of the Composition of the Fuel Used in a Lamp from an Ancient Settlement from the Taman Peninsula

The paper presents the results of an analysis of organic residue found at the bottom of an ancient lamp discovered during excavations at the Akhtanizovskaya 4 settlement (Krasnodar krai, Temryukskii district, northeastern outskirts of the Akhtanizovskaya village) in the cultural layer of the first century BC. Samples of the residue from the bottom of the lamp were extracted with a solvent mixture by the Folch method and treated with an alcoholic alkali solution. The extracts were then subjected to derivatization to obtain fatty acid methyl esters, the quantitative and qualitative compositions of which were determined by gas chromatography. The plant oil admixture found in the residue from the lamp was identified by analyzing sterol content by chromatography-mass spectrometry. The obtained results revealed that the fuel composition consisted of beef fat and rapeseed oil.