Hello, and welcome.
My name is Sepideh Khaksar, and I am a scholar and practitioner working at the crossroads of musicology, archaeology, and cultural heritage studies. My academic path began at the University of Tehran, where I earned my undergraduate degree in musicology. This early passion for music deepened into a wider fascination with its cultural and historical roots, leading me to pursue further studies in archaeology, culminating in both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Iranian Historical Archaeology in 2008.

In 2009, I moved to Berlin to begin my Pre-PhD research at the Free University, where I later focused my dissertation on the Archaeology of Music in the Middle Elamite Era. Since 2011, my work has combined archaeological analysis with musicological inquiry, uncovering new perspectives on the soundscapes of the ancient world.

Over the years, I have conducted archaeological and ethnomusicological fieldwork across Iran, South India, Turkey, and Syria, and more recently, I’ve extended my focus to include modern heritage and the archaeology of the recent past—particularly through excavation projects on labor camps in Germany. Alongside these efforts, I have collaborated with institutions in Berlin and Amsterdam to digitize and curate Iranian music archives, helping preserve oral and sonic traditions in accessible formats.

My research lies at the intersection of oral heritage—including music archaeology, ethnomusicology, and the history of acoustics—and dark heritage studies, exploring how sites shaped by war, trauma, and displacement speak to contemporary cultural memory.

Outside of research, I am a practicing musician, performing both Western classical music (as a cellist) and Iranian classical music (as a Santoor player). My broader interests include folk musicology, Persian language pedagogy, and the history of ancient Iran, with particular attention to the Elamite and Achaemenid periods.

Thank you for visiting my website. I look forward to connecting, collaborating, and sharing this journey through music, memory, and material culture.