How did humans evolve? How did civilisation develop? These and other issues are central to our understanding of human past. As archaeologists we answer such questions by studying the material culture of past societies. We are also increasingly using and applying techniques from the sciences, generating new information on environmental changes, past diets and migrations, technologies, and the everyday lives of people in the past.

What can I gain from a degree in Archaeology?

The inter-disciplinary nature of our degrees and their emphasis on both vocational experience and transferable skills will equip you equally well for careers in practical archaeology, higher degree studies, and a variety of non-archaeological careers, including communications, management, finance, marketing, and tourism. Our students are particularly well prepared for careers in the profession (field archaeology, heritage management, museum curation) through our degrees' practical fieldwork opportunities and vocational modules. You will also be encouraged to develop decision-making and problem-solving skills, alongside a sense of personal responsibility and team-working.

The Department

We are on one of the top-rated Archaeology departments in the UK and the excellence of our teaching and learning has been recognised in the distinguished Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education awarded in 2010. In the most recent national Research Assessment Exercise (2008), we were recognised as producing the highest proportion of world-class research of any department in the UK. We are housed in purpose-built, dedicated facilities, which provide a range of laboratories (including human osteoarchaeology, microscopy, and pollen) and our newly developed artefact teaching collections (including Iron Age coinage, Roman pottery and glass, and prehistoric stone tools).

What will I study?

You can study both single and combined honours archaeology degrees on a part-time basis. Our single subject degrees are BA or BSc Archaeology, with the latter focusing on scientific techniques and their applications in archaeology.

Our combined honours degrees link BA Archaeology with Ancient History, Classical Studies, History, History of Art, or Italian.

At Level C (Part I), you must take at least 40 credits from the five 20-credit modules offered in Archaeology (the exact number of credits and specific modules required depends on your particular degree): Practising Archaeology; Primates to Pyramids: an Introduction to World Prehistory; From Rome to the Reformation: an Introduction to Historic Archaeology; Bones, Bodies and Burials: the Archaeology of Death; Analysing Museum Displays. These modules introduce you to the methods and issues of archaeology, and how such methods are used to reconstruct past lifestyles and human social development.

In the compulsory modules at Level I (Part 2) you will have the opportunity to engage with archaeological theory and practice (through the Silchester Field School and, for BSc students, the Archaeological Science module). Vocational options allow you to engage with material interpretations and analysis, while there are also a wide range of period-focused options: Later Prehistoric Europe; The Middle Palaeolithic of Europe & Southwest Asia; Rome's Mediterranean Empire; Post-Roman and Early Medieval Europe; Later Medieval Europe.

At Level H (Part 3) you will undertake a focused research dissertation, allowing you to tailor your degree to meet your interests and requirements. You also select from a wide range of optional modules, including both vocational (Coastal and Maritime Archaeology; Science and the Dead; Micromorphology and the Study of Early Agricultural and Urban Settlements and Landscapes; Palaeopathology; The Archaeology of Food and Nutrition) and period / theme-based options: Archaeology of the Crusades; British Prehistory; The Age of Stonehenge; The Age of Hillforts; Early Agricultural Societies in the Mediterranean; Early Complex Societies in the Mediterranean; Europe in the Middle Ages; Expansion or Contraction in 12th Century England; Hominins, Hearths and Handaxes; Studies in the Lower Palaeolithic if Northwest Europe; Museum Theory, History and Ethics; Roman Britain, The Emergence of Civilisation in

Mesopotamia; Vikings of the West; Imperial Encounters in the Roman World; Archaeology of Dark Age Britain.

How will I be taught and assessed?

Our modules are taught through a combination of lectures, small-group seminars and student presentations, individual tutorials, site visits, and practical work in the field and the laboratories. Assessment is by a combination of coursework essays, presentations, practical projects, fieldwork, exams, and the research dissertation. Student learning is supported by our excellent library resources (both centrally and within the Department), teaching collections, laboratory facilities, and fieldwork projects.

Central to our focus on archaeological fieldwork training and experience is our unique Field School at Silchester Roman Town (Hampshire), one of the best preserved tribal capitals in Britain. You will spend a minimum

of two weeks (combined honours) or four weeks (single honours) at the Field School, and be taught archaeological field techniques and site recording methods. You will also have the opportunity to develop your communication, team-working, and problem-solving skills in an enjoyable and sociable environment. During your degree you will also have the opportunity to participate in the Department's other fieldwork projects in the UK and abroad (since 2006 we have run fieldwork projects with student places in England, Scotland, France, Jordan, and Turkey).