Yigit Zafer Helvaci

Yigit Zafer Helvaci is a heritage scientist with a background in classics, archaeology, cultural heritage management, conservation science and archaeometry. He received his B.A. degree in Classics (Istanbul University, 2010) and holds the M.Sc. degree of the Erasmus – Mundus ArchMat, Archaeological Materials Sciences joint program (U. of Évora, Sapienza, Università di Roma and Aristotle U. of Thessaloniki, 2015). He worked in several projects in Greece, for the digital documentation of cultural heritage through photogrammetric techniques, in collaboration with museums and higher education institutions, Global Heritage Fund and Archaeological Institute of America. In 2017 – 2018, he worked at the HERCULES Laboratory of the University of Évora as a junior researcher, for the characterisation and dating of mortars and building materials, noninvasive characterisation and documentation of mural paintings, and 3D modelling of several UNESCO – listed Portuguese monuments.

Through his tenure as a Marie Curie fellow of the UNITO – Tech4Culture program, he worked on the material characterisation and conservation state diagnosis of Byzantine mural paintings from Crete, Greece, in collaboration with Centro Conservazione e Restauro – La Venaria Reale and the Ephorate of Lasithi Antiquities, Crete, Greece. In addition to the core archaeometric and conservation science component of his methodology, he aimed to address research questions on a larger domain such as medieval and renaissance art history, cultural heritage management and policy making and protocol development for small scale research projects through his 2023 fellowships in ICCROM, Rome and Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, MA, United States.

Work contact: yigitzaferhelvaci@gmail.com

Tech4Culture fellow – Call 2 (2019)

Supervisor: Roberto Giustetto, Earth Sciences Department