In Memory of Dr Myrto Georgakopoulou (1976 - 2022)

By Evangelia Kiriatzi, Marcos Martinón-Torres and Thilo Rehren

It is with great sorrow and heavy hearts that we note the untimely passing of our dear colleague, valued collaborator and beloved friend, Myrto Georgakopoulou, on December 15, 2022.

Myrto received her BSc in Chemistry from Imperial College, London, before moving to the UCL Institute of Archaeology for a Masters and PhD in Archaeological Science, specialising in archaeometallurgy. Her PhD focused on Early Cycladic metallurgy, a subject that remained central throughout her research career. She was supervised by Thilo Rehren, Cyprian Broodbank and Yannis Bassiakos, who remained life-long mentors and collaborators. While early Aegean metallurgy was her great love throughout the course of her career, she developed an impressive breadth of expertise spanning multiple materials, periods and regions.

Her academic career was mainly split between the British School at Athens (2005-2013), UCL Qatar (2013- 2019), and, most recently, the Cyprus Institute. She also held short-term research posts at the NCSR Demokritos and the University of Cyprus. In all of these institutions, she led laboratories with exceptional rigour, developed pioneer research, and selflessly taught and mentored countless students. At the BSA she developed a long-term partnership with Vangelio Kiriatzi that transformed the Fitch Laboratory and Aegean archaeological sciences more generally. Among many others, a particularly memorable contribution was a new WD-XRF calibration for ceramics that, in her own words, “kicked ass”, and which enabled countless projects on pottery from Aegina, Kythera and beyond – indeed still used by many international visitors to the Fitch Laboratory. Myrto also joined fieldwork projects on Chios, Kythera and Keros. Beyond the Aegean, throughout her career she built a huge network of collaborations and projects across the globe, from India to North America and from Britain to Nigeria.

Myrto’s unique combination of skills, values and qualities are rarely found in the same individual. Exceptionally sharp and perceptive, generous with her time and knowledge, and a master of balancing excellence with slight self-deprecation, Myrto was a true role model. Her very strong scientific background was very successfully complemented by a critical, anthropocentric approach to material culture and technology. She had an infinite breadth of interests on scientific matters, society, politics and environment, and was the most intuitive and inspiring discussant on any subject. Myrto had a sharp mind and keen intellect, a strong sense of responsibility, and above all an enormously engaging and easy-going personality. She cared deeply and had affection for all creatures on this planet.

Archaeological scientists such as Marcos Martinón-Torres and Mike Charlton, among many others, started their careers and early networks working together in B53, the PhD student room at the basement of the UCL Institute of Archaeology. All of them, and the many more who crossed paths with Myrto in Britain, Qatar, Greece, Cyprus and beyond, remember fondly Myrto’s ingenuity, academic breadth and work ethic, as much as her incomparable spontaneity and charm. Decades later, they kept going back to her for scientific clarity, reality checks, friendly advice, and good humour. She always had the courage to say things as they were, and the humanity to help those in need.

To acknowledge Myrto’s contribution to the fields of Archaeological Science and Archaeometallurgy, the British School at Athens has established a programme of ‘Myrto Georgakopoulou Scholarships’ to support early career researchers. Donations can be made through the BSA’s website: https://www.bsa.ac.uk/donate/, mentioning ‘Myrto Georgakopoulou’ in the Additional Comments box.

Myrto’s untimely passing is a great loss for the archaeological sciences, but we will miss most acutely an irreplaceable friend. Her charisma, sense of justice, and personal warmth will remain an inspiration.