Irina Fierascu

By Rodica-Mariana Ion, Radu-Claudiu Fierăscu, Sofia Teodorescu, Irina Fierăscu, Ioana-Raluca Bunghez, Daniela Ţurcanu-Caruţiu and Mihaela-Lucia Ion

The artifacts belonging to the ceramic heritage are mostly based on all clay types used by humans over the ages, because the sources of clays were easily available and people were interested to produce ceramics and pottery. This is the reason why the conservation of cultural heritage is of great concern. Ceramics (Greek κεράμιον Keramion) is a material obtained by shaping and firing clay. In the Romanian history, many ceramic pieces, of great diversity, have been discovered, and most of them are used in traditional households. Ceramic materials based on clay minerals in cultural heritage (ceramic heritage) involve techniques of characterization of raw materials and ceramic objects based on clays, discovered in different archaeological sites, leading to some results about the production technology, provenance, authentication, and historical appartenance on Romanian territory. The chemical composition of ancient ceramics and pigments decorating them, excavated from different Romanian archaeological sites, suggested a chemical composition of ceramic based on clay minerals (kaolinite, illite, and smectite), while the pigments belonging to them contained red pigments (hematite or ocher), manganese oxides (brown pigments), and magnetite or carbon of vegetable origin (black-pigmented layers).

Part of the book: Clays, Clay Minerals and Ceramic Materials Based on Clay Minerals

By Radu Claudiu Fierascu, Irina Fierascu, Alina Ortan, Sorin Marius Avramescu, Cristina Elena Dinu-Pirvu and Daniela Ionescu

From ancient times, plants have been used by humans for food, fodder, fibre and medicinal purposes. Several plants were empirically considered as treatments for a large array of illness and medical conditions. Each community had specific natural remedies, based on the geographical area, environmental conditions and other factors. Thus, the use of plants can be considered as part of the intangible cultural heritage of each community. In the geographical area of today’s Romania, the ancient inhabitants, Dacians, had very good knowledge regarding the use of plants for medicinal purposes, as presented by several historical sources. The present work describes protocols for the extraction and purification of natural extracts, analytical characterisation, in vitro and in vivo evaluation of their potential applications as well as some practical examples of their application on selected Romanian native medicinal and aromatic plants. The presented results offer scientific support to their traditional use, suggesting in the same time some modern applications, for example in the nanotechnology field.

Part of the book: Aromatic and Medicinal Plants