BA Ancient History and Archaeology with Professional Placement

Compulsory modules

Archaeology Today: Methods and Practice

Uncover the main methods and practices currently employed in modern archaeology, both in archaeological fieldwork and post-excavation analysis. You’ll gain essential knowledge on the variety of techniques used in modern archaeology and an understanding of current practice in the UK.

Early Empires: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Rome

Discover the archaeology of the world’s early empires, dating from 2500BC to AD395, focusing on the great empires of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, and the Roman Empire. You’ll examine ideology, imperial cult, trade, urbanisation, warfare, agriculture and the everyday lives of imperial subjects, as you study the rise and fall of some of the greatest, most feared, socio-political entities to have existed. 

Greek History: War, Society and Change in the Archaic Age

Track the upheavals, innovations, and conflicts across ancient Greece and beyond. Using evidence, you’ll reconstruct the events and practices that are subject to ongoing debate.  

Roman History: The Rise and Fall of the Republic

Investigate a period marked by profound socio-political changes in Rome and discover the evidence for ancient history and modern methodological approaches, considering the relevance of Roman antiquity to issues in the modern world.

Optional modules

Forensic Anthropology and the Archaeology of Death

Learn the archaeological methods and theories employed in the scientific study of the dead, both from the modern forensic and older archaeological contexts. Gain insight into how humans have buried their dead over the time, analyse skeletal remains, and conduct fieldwork in a cemetery survey.  

Contemporary World Cultures: An Introduction to Social Anthropology

Gain a general introduction to social anthropology – the study of human societies and cultures. You’ll explore key themes in the discipline through the study of topics including kingship and marriage, gender and sexuality, the role of religion, ritual and witchcraft in social life, and contemporary hunting and gathering societies.

Revolutions and Transitions: The Human Journey

Presenting the Past: An Introduction to Museum Studies

Texts, Readers and Writers

Develop the knowledge and skills required to succeed in academic study of the ancient world including the literature, writing and numeral systems of ancient Greece and Rome. 

Ancient Song

Discover a range of lyric poetry from ancient Greece and Rome and consider a range of thematic approaches to reading the surviving texts. 

The Past in the Present

Understand the value of materials and how they contribute to our knowledge of antiquity. You’ll learn how to handle and conserve objects and how museums encourage audiences to engage with the ancient world.

Optional Language Modules 

Study a module from outside your department to enhance your understanding of history and culture. Alternatively, you can learn one of ten languages offered by the University at a level appropriate for you. 

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Optional modules

Archaeology and Heritage: Past, Present and Future

Discover how and why archaeologists have excavated and interpreted the material remains of past societies over time. You’ll examine interpretations of the past through to the modern day, spanning the ancient Near East and Classical Greece and Rome. You’ll also examine the evolution of ideas, considering how wider society has changed archaeology and how it may continue to develop in the future. 

Ancient Objects: Materials and Meanings 

Learn the skills, techniques and interpretative frameworks specific to the study of artefacts, including how they’re recorded, analysed and interpreted. You'll be exposed to a wide range of artefacts covering two chronological periods as you explore methodological aspects and analyse data for your dissertation.  

Prehistoric Europe: The First Million Years

Uncover Europe’s pre-history, from the earliest Palaeolithic through to the Iron Age c. 1,600,000 – 800 BC), from Turkey and the Balkans to Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia. You’ll consider important research questions and themes such as technology, dietary strategies, life histories, hominin cognitive abilities, settlement and burial archaeology, ritual practice, and comparative anthropology.  

Archaeology Field School and Professional Practice

Gain a practical, hands-on introduction to field techniques and site recording methods used on both urban and rural excavations. You’ll spend four weeks on a departmental excavation and participate in site work including excavation, finds and sample processing, geophysics, survey and aspects, and geoarchaeology. 

Celts and Romans: Northern Europe and Britain

Medieval Europe: Power, Religion and Death

Bioarchaeology

Learn the key methods employed in the examination of human and animal skeletal remains from archaeological sites, and utilise skeletal collections held by the Department of Archaeology. You’ll uncover the role of the osteoarchaeologist, and learn how to identify, record and analyse human and non-human remains.

Changing the Face of the Earth: Past, Present and Future Sustainability

Examine how archaeology, environmental science and anthropology can provide a deep-time perspective on global challenges and sustainability and how they may contribute to future solutions. You’ll explore the historical emergence, sustainability, and collapse of communities and civilisations, alongside the role of humans in changing climate and ecosystems in the future.

Summer Placement

Take the opportunity to complete a research or professional placement during the summer vacation preceding Part 2 or Part 3 of your degree. You can work alongside a member of staff on a current project based in the UK or internationally, or with a professional organisation, consultancy or government organisation.

Museum Learning and Engagement

Curatorship and Collections Management

Roman Satire

Ancient Epic

Discuss interpretations of Greek and Latin epic hexameter poetry such as the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid.  

Greek History: Persian Wars to Alexander

Discover the Greek classical age (479-323 BC), how to interact with sources, and principles and methods central to the study of ancient history. 

Greek Sculpture and Architecture

Gain knowledge of sculpture and architecture in the Greek world, from its beginnings to the end of the Hellenistic period and consider how, why, where and when these media developed. 

My Mother's Sins and Other Stories

Discover Greek poetry and fiction from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. You’ll consider historical, sociocultural, and wider literary developments of the period and how they illustrate attitudes to the ancient past. 

Ancient Drama

Discover ancient drama by examining their content, themes, and performance style and uncovering the context in which they were produced. 

Roman History: From Republic to Empire

Gain knowledge of the historical, political, social, and economic developments of the imperial era of Rome, using various sources to investigate the impact of the Roman world on the present day. 

Careers for Classicists and Ancient Historians

Set yourself targets in order to make impactful job applications following your graduation, relating your experience of exploring career paths to selected careers in the ancient world. 

Optional Language Modules

Study a module from outside your department to enhance your understanding of history and culture. Alternatively, you can learn one of ten languages offered by the University at a level appropriate for you. 

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Professional Placement Year

Optional modules

Dissertation in Archaeology

Plan, organise and carry out an independent archaeological research project. You’ll undertake primary research as you critically assess previous approaches to a research question and identify or design methods relevant to its solution.

Dissertation in Classics

Investigate a topic within classics to form the basis of an extended piece of original research or an original artistic production. To prepare for the dissertation you’ll participate in workshops and submit an assessed proposal. 

Independent Project in Classics

Conduct research, explication and documentation of a topic presented in a format different from the traditional dissertation. You’ll prepare for the project by participating in workshops and submitting an assessed proposal. 

The Anthropology of Heritage & Cultural Property

Objects and Identities in the Roman Empire

Biological Anthropology

Post-excavation: Assessment, Analysis and Publication in the Profession

Emergence of Civilisation in Mesopotamia

The First Europeans: Archaeology of the Lower Paleolithic

The Archaeology and Anthropology of Food

The Archaeology of Crusading

Greek Art and Drama

Greek and Roman Painting

Investigate and critique Greek and Roman painting by exploring the styles and techniques used to decorate architecture and free-standing objects in the ancient world. 

From Classroom to Courtroom: Mastering the Art of Persuasion

Consider the relationship between theory of rhetoric and the practice of oratory in antiquity by examining the construction of ancient speeches and the skills required for composing and delivering them. 

'Race' and Ethnicity in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds

Challenging the notion that ‘race’ and racism are modern concepts, you’ll explore racial and ethnic otherness in Greek and Latin texts along with how classical texts continue to shape our thinking on these issues. 

Science and the Dead: Taphonomy and Chemistry in Human Remains

Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain

Archaeology of the Dark Ages

Optional Language Modules 

Study a module from outside your department to enhance your understanding of history and culture. Alternatively, you can learn one of ten languages offered by the University at a level appropriate for you. 

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.