Archaeology Wordsmith

           

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Results for granular:

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granular

CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: Pertaining to particles that are spherical or polyhedral and nonporous.

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diorite

SYNONYM: black granite
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A dark, granular igneous (crystalline) rock consisting essentially of the minerals plagioclase feldspar and hornblende or biotite.

filigree

SYNONYM: filagree, filigraine
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A technique of decorating jewelry with gold, silver, or electrum soldered onto metalwork. It consists of creating a fine open metalwork pattern out of wire which is soldered together and to the main body of the piece. The wire can be plain or decorative. For goldwork, the solder was normally a gold-copper alloy (82% gold, 18% copper), which had a lower melting point than pure gold. The word is derived from the Italian 'filigrana' which is 'filum' and 'granum' or 'granular network'. It was first developed in the Near East and was often used in combination with granulation. The technique had been mastered by the Early Dynastic Sumerian craftsmen of the 3rd millennium BC and fine jewelry decorated in this way appears in the Royal Tombs of Ur. Anglo-Saxon and Germanic metalworkers greatly developed the technique.

granite

CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A granular igneous rock composed essentially of the minerals quartz, orthoclase feldspar, and mica. It is the most common plutonic rock of the Earth's crust, formed by the cooling of magma at depth. Primarily gray in color, the crystalline rock is used mainly for building, paving, and tombstones.

granulation

CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A technique used in the decoration of jewelry by soldering it with grains of gold, electrum, or silver. Tiny spherical drops of metal were soldered on to a background, forming the required pattern and giving it a granular texture. The drops may have been made by heating a gold wire until a drop formed, or by melting gold and slowly pouring it into cold water. As also for filigree, the solder was normally a gold-copper alloy with a lower melting point than gold. First used as early as the 3rd millennium BC, it was widely known in western Asia and Egypt. The ancient Greeks perfected the technique, but by the 5th century BC granulation had been largely replaced by filigree in Greek work. The art of granulation probably reached its peak with the Etruscans between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, in the elaborately granulated and embossed earrings, pronged shoulder clasps for clothes, and beads found in Etruscan tombs. Granulation was particularly important in India and Persia after contact with the Roman Empire.

marble

CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A granular limestone or dolomite (a rock composed of calcium-magnesium carbonate) that has been recrystallized under the influence of heat, pressure, and aqueous solutions. This polished stone was used for sculpture and decoration and for architecture from the 7th century BC onwards. Most used were fine white marbles of Greece, though colored marbles were used in Hellenistic architecture. Roman marble, principally from Carrara quarries at Luna, became popular in the 1st century BC.