Animation:Views of diplodocus and Roman era lamp.
From; Victoria County History of Kent Vol. 3 1932 – Romano-British Kent – Country Houses -. This bronze, Roman era lamp is from the time period of first century through the fifth century A.D.
There are no doubt some who would assume that this is a depiction of some long necked, featherless bird but an alternate interpretation is that of one of the long necked sauropods. Based on the skull shape, we have compared it to diplodocus. Everyone else can decide for themselves, but if you can can certainly rule out; swans, emus and ostriches, IOHO.
One of the early clues that we here at s8int.com had that our search for ancient depictions of dinosaurs would be successful was the discovery of the Roman Mosaic at Palestrina, which depicts several dinosaurs and other animals which were supposed to be extinct millions of years ago.
Ancient Roman oil lamps were small devices, typically made of terra cotta, that were used by the ancient Romans for artificial light. They were fueled by olive oil, and had anywhere from one to a dozen wicks. Many had handles so they could be carried from room to room, and also so they could by carried by actors in plays or by participants in various ritual activities.
Ancient Roman Oil Lamps
“Ancient Roman oil lamps often contained molded reliefs of erotic scenes, gladiators, mythical characters, or floral patterns. These lamps were fairly popular, since they could be released as collectible sets (e.g. a set of lamps with a different god on each lamp), and because they were relatively inexpensive.
Such lamps were mass-produced in great numbers, using molds instead of hand-crafting techniques. As a result they were easy, quick and cheap to manufacture. Many thousands of complete examples survive in museums across the world.” Wikipedia
In our experience many of these lamps were zoomorphic and were formed in the shape of real animals like horses, camels, dogs and birds but also in forms that we would find exotic such as griffins, and dinosaurs?
Artifact Source: KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY