Giuseppe Fiorelli

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Giuseppe Fiorelli (1823 - 1896) was an Italian archaeologist. Fiorelli was born in Naples, Italy. His excavations at Pompeii helped preserve the city.

Fiorelli's initial work at Pompeii was completed in 1848. Then, when he became professor of archaeology at Naples University and director of excavations (1860–75), he established the meticulous method of studying archaeological sites layer by layer. He founded a training school where foreigners as well as Italians could learn archaeological technique, and made a particular study of the materials and building methods used in Pompeii.Fiorelli decided to pump plaster into the cavity where the bodies had been,so that that the clothes and body were completely revealed. Director of the Naples National Archaeological Museum from 1863, he was director general of Italian Antiquities and Fine Arts (1875–96).