Fill (archaeology)

In archaeology a fill is the material that has accumulated or has been deposited into a cut feature such as ditch or pit of some kind of a later date than the feature itself. Fills are an important part of the archaeological record as their formation and composition can throw light on many aspects of archaeological study.

Primary fills

Primary fill like so many other terms in archaeology can have several different but allied meanings. Used singularly it denotes the context that first appears in the sequence after the context representing the cut it "fills". In many cases this will be a silt or naturally accumulating material that forms in the base of some hole or trench before its function is realized. For example, a medieval rubbish pit may be open for some time before rubbish is placed in it allowing natural processes to silt up the base, but the interpretation may mark the end of a cut feature's use. Similarly, a ditch that silts up by neglect could represent the start of the end of the features function in the record. Secondary and subsequent fills all form above the primary fill. Primary fills, used in the plural sense, tend to denote all the fills within a feature that are sealed by layer(s) possibly representing a change in phase or function.

Fill

Fill may refer to:

Allan Moore

Allan Moore (born 25 December 1964) is a Scottish football player and manager.

Playing career

During his playing career he turned out for several Scottish clubs including Dumbarton, Heart of Midlothian, St Johnstone, Partick Thistle and Morton.

Management career

Moore was appointed manager of Stirling Albion in 2002, succeeding Ray Stewart. At this time, the club was languishing at second bottom of the Third Division. Moore's impact was recognised instantly, and in the 2003–04 season he successfully guided Stirling to promotion to the Second Division. Steady progress in the next few years culminated in yet another promotion, via the playoffs, to the First Division at the end of the 2006–07 season. However, this proved too much for Stirling, as the club were relegated back into the Second Division after just one season.

In October 2009, Moore expressed a strong interest in taking the vacant managers position at former club Greenock Morton, citing the move as an opportunity to work at a full-time club. Moore then confirmed that he had been given permission to speak to Morton. However, after Morton approached Albion over the release of Moore, the compensation package of £160k – £180k was too much for Morton chairman Douglas Rae, and the deal was called off.

Book of the Dead

The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as Book of Coming Forth by Day. Another translation would be Book of emerging forth into the Light. "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1000 years.

The Book of the Dead was part of a tradition of funerary texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, which were painted onto objects, not papyrus. Some of the spells included were drawn from these older works and date to the 3rd millennium BCE. Other spells were composed later in Egyptian history, dating to the Third Intermediate Period (11th to 7th centuries BCE). A number of the spells which made up the Book continued to be inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, as had always been the spells from which they originated. The Book of the Dead was placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased.

Gertrude Bell

Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, spy and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with T. E. Lawrence, Bell helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq.

She played a major role in establishing and helping administer the modern state of Iraq, utilising her unique perspective from her travels and relations with tribal leaders throughout the Middle East. During her lifetime she was highly esteemed and trusted by British officials and given an immense amount of power for a woman at the time. She has been described as "one of the few representatives of His Majesty's Government remembered by the Arabs with anything resembling affection".

Early life

Bell was born on 14 July 1868 in Washington New Hall, County Durham, England – now known as Dame Margaret Hall – to a family whose wealth enabled her travels. She is described as having "reddish hair and piercing blue-green eyes, with her mother's bow shaped lips and rounded chin, her father’s oval face and pointed nose". Her personality was characterised by energy, intellect, and a thirst for adventure which shaped her path in life. Her grandfather was the ironmaster Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, an industrialist and a Liberal Member of Parliament, in Benjamin Disraeli's second term. His role in British policy-making exposed Gertrude at a young age to international matters and most likely encouraged her curiosity for the world, and her later involvement in international politics.