Seyed Mohammadamin Emami

Seyed Mohammadamin Emami is the Director of the Office of Scientific and International Cooperation at the Art University of Isfahan, Iran. He studied mineralogy and petrology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, in 2002, before completing a PhD thesis on the characterization of ancient ceramics at the University of Siegen, also in Germany, in 2009. Seyed Mohammadamin Emami began his professional career at the Art University of Isfahan in 2010. His research and teaching activities focus on inorganic archaeomaterials, the reconstruction and understanding of technological processes, as well as the provenance and circulation of material remains.

The project

Title: Early Pottery Production at Chega-Sofla (Late Neolithic, Southern Iran, 7th Millennium BC): Evidence of Technological Continuity and Cultural Change.

"The project aims at identifying technological characteristics and investigating the provenance of materials from one of the oldest pottery production centres in the southern Iranian Plateau: the Chega-Sofla site, which bears witness to the evolution of pottery production during the Late Neolithic period in Iran (7000–6500 BC).
The archaeomaterials unearthed since 2022 offer valuable research opportunities and provide insights into the social complexity of southern Iran during this period. The study focuses on 25 pottery sherds, which will undergo systematic analysis, complemented by the examination of geological samples to determine the origin of the raw materials used in pottery production during this transitional period.
The findings are expected to establish whether potters primarily relied on locally available raw materials. They should also provide insights into refining processes and the preparation of additives. The study of these additives, combined with provenance analysis of the pottery, could reveal complex patterns of natural resource exploitation, highlighting both local technological specificities and the possible existence of long-distance raw material supply networks."

Hosting institution: Archéosciences

Selective Bibliography

• Dehkordi, M.H., Kamel, G., Rozatian, A.S.H., Madani, F.S., Noohi, S., Refaat, A., Nokandeh, J., Emami, M., 2025, "Revealing Sassanid dyeing practices through synchrotron FTIR", Nature, Scientific Reports, 15, 41318
• Bayat Nejad, F., M. Emami, M. E. Chehri, M. Kolbadinejad, G. Aquilanti, E. Salimi, and R. Chapoulie, 2025, "Insights into late Sasanian glass workshop at the city of Istakhr, Fras; synchrotron XRF radiation techniques for glass characterization", Archaeometry, 67(6), 1500-1514
• Emami, M., Chapoulie, R., Lefrais,  Y., Hans, Ph., Abdellatief, M., Montazerzohouri, M., 2025, "New vision beneath the emission: insights into the characterization of celadon by Cathodoluminescence Image Analysis and Synchrotron-based XRD", The European Physical Journal Plus, 140:485, 2-14 
• Emami, M., A. Bayad, H. Moradi, H. Qorbani, H. Sarhaddi Dadian, R. Chapoulie, 2025, Preliminary Chemical and Mineralogical Investigation of Traditional Pottery production along Jiroft-Bampur district in the 4th and 3rd Millennium B.C. Iran., Archéosciences, revue d’Archéométrie, 48(2), 131-148
• Raneri, S., Chapoulie, R., Liard, F., Emami, M., 2025. Advances in analytical techniques for archaeological potteries, The European Physical Journal Plus 140, 775