About us

KERAMos Research Group aims to address archaeological challenges through scientific examination of material culture and earth's natural resources. Our work encompasses a range of research projects and cultural artifacts from various regions and historical periods, spanning from the Neolithic to modern times. Accredited methods are employed for the sampling, analysis, and assessment of clays, sands, and rocks for their suitability as raw materials for ceramic production and stone tool manufacturing. In addition, non-destructive and minimally destructive analysis techniques are utilized for ceramic artifacts, stone tools, and metallic objects to resolve archaeological inquiries.

Dr Ioannis Iliopoulos

Dr Ioannis Iliopoulos is a Professor at the Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece and the Director of the Museum of Science and Technology of the University of Patras. He conducted his PhD Thesis in the field of Metamorphic Petrology. He was awarded the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute research award (Colgate University, USA) and was appointed as Researcher at the Dipartimento di Chimica e Fisica della Terra (CFTA), University of Palermo, Italy, under the auspices of the interdisciplinary European Geo-archaeological Research Project “GEOPRO”. He is an external collaborator of the Institut d’Arqueologia de la Universitat de Barcelona (IAUB) Spain and a scientific consultant of the Academy of Institutions and Cultures, Greece. His research focuses on the systematic application of analytical techniques for the study of archaeomaterias and earth raw materials from the wider Mediterranean area (Italy, Spain, Greece) and Latin America (Ecuador, Peru). He has published in peer reviewed international journals and edited volumes (h-index: 13). Since 2019 he has been elected as the Director of the Science and Technology Museum at the University of Patras and has supervised several thematic exhibitions and educational programs for students of primary, secondary and higher education under a participatory framework including subjects such as: “The solar system”; “Sun's family”; “Discovering the family of Sun”; “Geology in everyday life” and participated in nationwide contest of creative construction “Inspiring, creating, innovating” which have been attracted more than 40,000 visitors annually.  Dr I. Iliopoulos currently leads the KERAMos Research Group.

Dr Vayia Xanthopoulou

Dr  Vayia Xanthopoulou is a post doctoral researcher, Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece and XRF, SEM and micro-Raman technician at the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis,  University of Patras.  She conducted MSc and PhD Theses in the field of Archaeometry (ceramic petrology and ceramic raw materials).  She was the principal fellowship from 2010-2013 at the scientific  programme  entitled TECNOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE EARLY HELLADIC POTTERY FROM HELIKE: MINERALOGICAL-PETROGRAPHIC-GEOCHEMICAL APPROACH" funded by Karatheodori foundation .  She was the petrography intern (2011) of the Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center for East Crete (INSTAP).  As a Phd candidate participated in ERASMUS programme developing partenerships with the University of Palermo, Sicily and the Faculty of Archaeology of Leinden University, The Netherlands. During her post doctoral research received a grant by the STATE SCHOLARSHIPS FOUNDATION (IKY) of Greece. Her archaeometric research is published in peer review journals and international congresses. From 2015 up to present she held a position at the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis of the University of Patras, as technician of WD-ED XRF, mirco-RAMAN and SEM instruments. 

Dr Helene Simoni

Dr Helene Simoni (B.A. in History & Archaeology, Athens; M.A. in Landscape Studies, Leicester; PhD in Urban Planning and Urban Archaeology with the application of GIS, Patras) belongs to the Laboratory Teaching Staff of the Department of Geology, University of Patras, where she teaches Cartography, Geographical Information Systems & Remote Sensing, Cultural Heritage Protection and Introduction to the Greek Culture. She worked as research assistant at the University of Ljubljana and as a freelance researcher in Greece. She has participated in several research projects in Greece and abroad and has presented her work in national and international conferences. She has also offered lectures on history, archaeology, art and cultural resource management in various Greek cities and via Erasmus in major European universities. Founding member of the Landscape Archeology Group and the Institute of Local History. Fellow of the Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington 2023-24. 

Dr Irene Kotzamanidi

Dr Irene Kotzamandi, physicist, is a member of Laboratory Teaching Staff at the Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece, since 2021. She conducted her PhD Thesis at the National Centre for Scientific Research “DEMOKRITOS”, Greece, in the field of Plasma application on metallic archaeological artifacts.  She received a post graduate Scholarship for her Doctorate Thesis and then received a two-year Research Grant funded by General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Greek Ministry of Development, Greece. For many years she was a teacher of Physics at Secondary High Schools, Hellenic Ministry of Education, Greece.  Her recent research interests focuses on physicochemical techniques for the study of metallic archaeomaterials. She also cooperates  with the Science and Technology Museum of the University of Patras, where she demonstrates educational experiments at the museum’s visitors and has formed an educational program for High school students entitled “Οn the paths of electromagnetism”.

Dr Catherine Lara

DrFrench-Ecuadorian archaeologist Catherine Lara is currently an associate researcher at the research unit "Technology and Ethnology of Prehistoric Times" (University of Paris Nanterre, France) and at the French Institute of Andean Studies (IFEA), where she was senior investigator between 2019 and 2023. Her research focuses mainly on the topics of population movements, intercultural contacts and identities of the late pre-Columbian period of the Northern Andes, based on past and present ceramic manufacturing techniques, which has led her to work with present-day potters from southern Ecuador and northern Peru, among others.  After a bachelor's degree at the Catholic University of Quito (2009), she obtained a master's degree at the University Paris I Sorbonne in 2012 and a PhD at the University of Paris Nanterre in 2016. In Ecuador, she directed or co-directed 4 survey and excavation projects sponsored by the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador (INPC). In France, she worked as a research associate in 3 projects carried out at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). These works have resulted in publications and talks in Spanish, French and English, as well as an exhibition: "Presence of the past: contemporary pottery from Southern Ecuador ", held at the Pumapungo Museum in Cuenca. Together with Gabriel Ramón (Catholic University of Peru), C. Lara currently directs the project "Andean Potter’s Knowledge: Ceramic Production, Circulation and Use in Southern Ecuador and Northern Peru" sponsored by the Material Knowledge Programme (British Museum). With Tamara Bray, she directs the project "An archaeological investigation of the Inca Mitmaq colonies in southern Ecuador", funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation (Germany), the Rust Foundation (USA) and the H. and T. King Grant for Precolumbian Archaeology. C. Lara is also co-creator of 2 working groups: "Northern Andes, Archaeology and History" and "Pottery Ethnography and Andean Archaeology" together with colleagues from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Finally, she has carried out teaching activities in France and Peru, especially through the creation of the seminar "introduction to the technological approach applied to ceramic analysis" in Spanish.

Nickoula Kougia, MSc (PhD cand.)

Nickoula Kougia is  an archaeologist and currently a Ph.D student in the Department of Geology, University of Patras, Greece. She received her degree from the University of Crete, Department of History and Archaeology .  and her M.Sc. in Cultural Resources Management, from the Hellenic Open University of Patras,Department of Social Sciences.  She is currently a Ph.D candidate interested in many fields linked to archaeology: kilns, ceramic technology, pottery analysis, ethnoarchaeology, prospection of raw material and experimental archaeology. Her research "The city of Patras and the relation with two other great cities colonized by Augustus, Nikopoli and Butrint: an archaeometrical approach and study of local and regional ceramic production and distribution"   is financially supported by the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY).  At 2018 she was awarded a Petrography Internship from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center for East Crete (INSTAP) and during 2021 she was funded to implement a short time reasearch project (ARISTEAS) in the Laboratory of Archaeometry at the University of the Peloponnese, Kalamata.  From 2007 since today she has worked as an archaeologist in the Ephorates of Antiquities of Achaia and Ilia, Greece

Maria Kokkaliari, MSc (PhD cand.)

Maria Kokkaliari is a PhD Student at Minerals and Rocks Research Laboratory, in the Department of Geology, University of Patras. She received her B.Sc in 2012 and her MSc degree in 2015 from the same department. Her research interests focus on petrology, spectroscopy,  archaeometry and remote sensing imagery. She has also participated in several international meetings. From 2017 to 2020 her PhD dissertation was financially supported by the “General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT)” and the “Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI)”.