Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (254 page)

General term for material added to clay when preparing it for use in potting or brickmaking. Filler may comprise grog (broken pottery crushed up into a gritty consistency), sand, crushed rock, or organic material such as dung or straw. The selection of the right filler is important in relation to the intended use of the product; cooking pots, for example, are best made using filler that helps conduct heat through the walls of the vessel, while vessels in which milk or water is to be stored are more useful if the fabric is porous so that surface evaporation will have the effect of cooling the contents.

 
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A flat and narrow moulding on the surface of a wall or between the flutes of an Ionic or Corinthian column.

 
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Good-quality pottery that has a fine textured fabric, relatively thin walls, and is usually tableware or for personal use. Fineware may be decorated, but above all stands out within the overall repertoire of material used by a community in being of superior quality.

 
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An ornament at the top of a gable, canopy, pinnacle, or similar on a building or structure. Usually made of stone or ceramic. See also
ROOF FURNITURE
.

 
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Fiorelli , Giuseppe
(1823–96)
[Bi].

Italian archaeologist who took over the excavations at Pompeii between 1860 and 1875 and was one of the first to apply the principles of stratigraphy and large-area excavation. By dividing the city into a series of regions, his work allowed a systematic appraisal. He also developed a method for taking casts of hollows in the hardened ash which revealed the imprints of people, animals, plants, and wooden objects such as furniture. His training schools provided a source for many later archaeologists.
[Bio.: R. A. Genovese , 1992,
Giuseppe Fiorelli e la tutela dei beni culturali dopo l'unità d'Italia
. Napoli: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiano]

 
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A metal frame with a low cross-piece supported at either end by an upright. The firedog sits next to a fire with logs resting on the crosspiece so that they burn properly. Very fine decorative examples are known from La Tène contexts in Europe, some with animal heads adorning the tops of the uprights.

 
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