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BA ARCHAEOLOGY V400

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Full Time: 3 Years

Study at a top 10 university for archaeology (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017).

Our BA Archaeology enables you to study the material traces of past societies from artefacts recovered through excavation to standing monuments; from the earliest humans to the first Empires and from the rise of organised religion through to the Crusades. Handle human remains and learn about burial archaeology; touch objects from the past and see how we interpret this material; utilise skills in a contemporary mock crime scene investigation. Realise how ideas of gender are reflected and imposed through the material world; how climate change has impacted on lives past and present, and how stories about the past are conveyed through museums and the media.

Study within a research-intensive department at the cutting edge of social and scientific archaeology. 97% of our research was judged to be of international standing in the latest Research Excellence Framework, 2014. You will join a friendly and welcoming department with an outstanding track record for student satisfaction — 90-100% of our archaeology students were satisfied with the quality of their course in consecutive National Student Surveys (2010-2017). You will have the opportunity to participate in a Field School during your course, gaining direct hands-on experience in all aspects of an archaeological excavation. Put your skills into practice, including excavation, surveying, GIS (geographical information systems) mapping, planning, and finds processing, and contribute to new archaeological knowledge through our discoveries.

We encourage you to get involved with archaeological excavations in the UK and Europe, such as prehistoric monuments, Roman cities to Medieval castles; but it’s not just digging. Archaeology is an academic subject that will teach you valuable theoretical and practical skills, with opportunities to use specialist equipment, work in laboratories and access three superb on-campus museums. You will also have the chance to boost your employability with our Study Abroad programme, whether in Malta, Denmark, Florida, Korea or other parts of the world.

Placement year or year abroad

All Archaeology degree programmes (single and joint honours) are also available as 4-year courses, which give you the option of spending your third year on a placement or studying for one year at a University abroad, gaining valuable professional and international experience. You can also combine the two options by spending one semester studying abroad and then undertaking a half-year professional placement abroad or back in the UK.

We provide opportunities for you to undertake placements in a variety of contexts. Placements are an excellent way to enhance your work-related skills and develop a network of contacts, as well as strengthen your employability prospects.

Opportunities are available working across the Archaeological, Heritage, Planning and Museum sectors including: research institutions, government organisations, local planning authorities, archaeological consultancies, field units, specialists and archivists. Alternatively, you can choose a placement in a non-related business or industry, exploring different career options and enhancing your employability by drawing on the many non-vocational, transferable skills you obtain from an Archaeology degree.

Recent examples include:

  • Traineeship with Oxford Archaeology
  • Archaeological science placement at QUEST, the University of Reading’s scientific consultancy company
  • Volunteering at the Ure Museum, Cole Museum of Zoology and the Museum of English Rural Life
  • Human remains placement
  • Mediterranean Palaeoclimate Project placement
  • Hominin Skeletal Morphology placement
  • Archaeological Graphics placement
  • “Developing Experimental Archaeology for Research and Training” placement
  • “The Ecology of Crusading: Isotope Analysis and Faunal Remains” placement
  • IMAGINE (Study Abroad) placements for castle excavations in Spain

Our department has a dedicated member of staff in charge of placements, who can provide you with advice and support.

Quick look entry requirements A Level ABB-BBB | IB 30-32 pts overall

Typical offer

ABB–BBB

International Baccalaureate

30–32 points

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with no component below 5.5

For information on other English language qualifications, please visit our international student pages.

Further requirements

If you are an international student planning to apply for one of our degree programmes, you may need to take a foundation course or pre-sessional course if you do not have qualifications that are equivalent to British A levels or if you need to improve your English language level.

Look at entry requirements by country.

Find out the English language requirements for our courses and our pre-sessional English programme.

Learn more about our international foundation programme.

What will you study?

  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3

Year 1

Core modules include:

  • Practising archaeology: methods and approaches

Optional modules include:

  • Bones, bodies and burials: the archaeology of death
  • Museum history, policy and ethics
  • From Rome to the Reformation: an introduction to historic archaeology
  • Museum communication and Interpretation
  • Primates to pyramids: an introduction to world prehistory

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

For more information about this course, visit the Department of Archaeology's website.

Year 2

Core modules include:

  • Archaeological thought
  • Careers for archaeologists
  • Silchester Field School (single honours)

Optional modules include:

  • Archaeological science
  • Celts and Romans: Northern Europe and Britain
  • Crime scene analysis
  • Curatorship and collections management
  • Geophysics
  • Human activity and environmental change
  • Introduction to zooarchaeology
  • Later Medieval Europe
  • Later Prehistoric Europe
  • Museum learning and engagement
  • Peoples and societies of the Ancient Near East
  • Post Roman and Early Medieval Europe
  • Rome's Mediterranean Empire
  • Techniques in artefact interpretation
  • Techniques of skeletal interpretation
  • The Mesolithic of North-West Europe
  • The Middle Palaeolithic of Europe and SW Asia

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

For more information about this course, visit the Department of Archaeology's website.

Year 3

Core modules include:

  • Dissertation

Optional modules include:

  • Hominins, hearths and handaxes: studies in the lower Palaeolithic of North-Western Europe
  • People, plants and environmental change
  • Archaeology of the City of Rome
  • Archaeology of the Dark Ages
  • Coastal and maritime archaeology
  • Emergence of civilisation in Mesopotamia
  • Expansion or contraction in the Twelfth Century?
  • Holocene climate change and human society
  • Microarchaeology
  • Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain
  • Palaeopathology
  • Roman material culture studies
  • Science and the dead: taphonomy and molecular analysis of human remains
  • The archaeology of crusading
  • The archaeology of Early Iran
  • The archaeology of food and nutrition

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

For more information about this course, visit the Department of Archaeology's website.

How much will it cost?

How much will it cost?

New UK/EU students: £9250* per year

New international students: £19330 per year

* UK and EU Fee Changes

Subject to the Government passing legislation to raise the minimum fee cap, we will raise undergraduate tuition fees from £9,000 to £9,250 for new UK/EU students applying to start courses in the 2017/18 academic year. You will not be affected by this rise if you have deferred entry to the 2017/18 academic year. The Government will confirm future arrangements for EU students in due course.

Information on this page is based on 2018/19 figures and is likely to change slightly for 2019/20 entry. We will publish up-to-date information about 2019/20 entry as soon as it becomes available.

For further information, please see our webpage on the Teaching Excellence Framework and future tuition fees.


Additional Costs

These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK and other EU countries may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

Flexible courses (price per 10 credit module)

Home/EU students: £750

International students: £1275

* UK and EU Fee Changes

Subject to the Government passing legislation to raise the minimum fee cap, we will raise undergraduate tuition fees from £9,000 to £9,250 for new UK/EU students applying to start courses in the 2017/18 academic year. You will not be affected by this rise if you have deferred entry to the 2017/18 academic year. The Government will confirm future arrangements for EU students in due course.

The tuition fee will remain £9,000 per year for the full duration of this course if you start in the 2016/17 academic year or have accepted an offer but deferred your entry until the 2017/18 academic year. This is unlike other institutions who are planning to raise fees midway through courses.

For further information, please see our webpage on the Teaching Excellence Framework and future tuition fees.

Additional costs

These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK and other EU countries may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

What career can you have?

What career can you have?

You will gain a broad range of subject-specific and transferable skills spanning the humanities and sciences. The majority of employers consider your attitude and abilities to be even more important than the subject you choose to study (CBI Skills Survey 2014). Our curriculum is designed with this in mind, giving you not just knowledge in subjects you are passionate about, but also the qualities that employers really care about – qualities that are transferable to a diverse range of careers.

As a world-class department with internationally-renowned teaching staff, a degree in Archaeology at the University of Reading is the best possible foundation to begin your career in commercial archaeology, planning, heritage management and archaeological research, as well as disciplines such as teaching, business and marketing.

Our recent graduates are represented among the staff of major employers such as Oxford Archaeology, Wessex Archaeology, the Museum of London Archaeology and the Natural History Museum. Some of our graduates have progressed into roles in the police force and in teaching at both primary and secondary levels. Each year a number of graduates pursue further, higher study following graduation.

The lecturers within the department were passionate, endlessly supportive and dedicated to their subjects and students. This encouraged me to strive to find the same passion and dedication in my degree and future careers.

Jessica Barnsley
BA Archaeology

Why choose Archaeology at Reading?


Watch our video to find out more.

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