Handbook of Cultural Heritage Analysis

This Handbook covers non-invase techniques as well as digital technologies to study cultural heritage. It focuses on multidisciplinary approaches that help site managers to deal with their site form conservation to prevention. The book is conceived to foster exchanges of ideas and information and to update innovation on measurements suitable for cultural heritage across several disciplines. Contributions on measurements deriving from the large number of analytical methodologies and tools (spectroscopy, chemometrics, modeling, etc) are also of interest for the scientific community. Considering the tremendous amount of new interactive technologies which inevitably impact traditional arts, the final section of the Handbook focuses on the use of virtual reality systems in museums and archaeological sites. 

The Handbook will contribute to build an international network of cultural heritage scientists, architects, geophysicists, archaeologists, and soil scientists.

Sebastiano D’Amico (Ph.D.) has been working at the University of Malta, within the Department of Physics and the Department of Geosciences, since 2010. He was enrolled in the Physics program of the University of Messina where he was awarded the title of Dottore in Fisica; he also hold a PhD in Geophysics. In 2005 he moved to Rome where he joined the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). In 2007 he moved to the U.S.A. to join the Saint Louis University (Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department). His research interests are in the applied aspects of geophysics and earthquake seismology. From 2016 to 2018, he served as Vice-President of the European Seismological Commission. In the last few years, he has also worked in the field of Physics applied to Cultural Heritage and involved in several nation and international projects.  In particular, his research interests include different fields of the cultural heritage such as use and development of new technologies for the diagnostic, conservation and restoration of cultural heritage, digitalization of monuments, statues and paintings. Furthermore, He is involved in teaching activity on several study units offered by University of Malta and Messina. He also taught study units in the European Union as well as the United States. He is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. More details can be found at http://staff.um.edu.mt/sebastiano.damico 

Valentina Venuti (PhD) is Full Professor of Applied Physics (to Cultural Heritage, Environmental Assets, Biology and Medicine) at the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Physical Sciences and Earth Sciences, University of Messina (Italy). She is co-author of 166 publications on ISI rated journals and overall 150 communications to congresses. Citations 2633, H-index: 28. Her research interests are focused on: 1) FT-IR and Raman spectroscopies, neutron and synchrotron radiation techniques applied to cultural heritage; 2) Spectroscopic study of biological and drug/carriers systems and their application in pharmaceutical field. She took part, many times as PI of the related projects selected by International User Selection Panels, in 54 experiments of neutron spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation spectroscopy carried out at European Large Scale Facilities. She is Responsible of the Laboratory of Applied Physics the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Physical Sciences and Earth Sciences at the University of Messina. She is Delegate of the Director of the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Physical Sciences and Earth Sciences for the "Internationalization of Departmental Activities" of the University of Messina. She is appointed, for the three-year period 2020-2022, auditor for the Italian Association of Archaeometry. In the last ten years, she was involved in the organization of several international conferences/workshops/schools as Director, Chair, Program Committee Member, or in other positions, and in several research projects funded by MIUR and other institutions on different issues of applied physics. More details can be found at https://www.unime.it/it/persona/valentina-venuti