Historical Archaeology, BA (Hons)

This BA Single Honours degree combines history and archaeology, focusing on the last 600 years through interdisciplinary training in material culture, museum collections, buildings, landscapes, and world heritage. Students engage in classroom teaching, seminars, practical labs, field visits, and an annual field school, selecting modules from archaeology, history, and other disciplines. Core elements include developing archaeological skills in the first year, advancing to specialized topics and independent research in years two and three. The program offers a CIfA-accredited route, preparing graduates for careers in commercial archaeology.Assessment involves coursework, presentations, practical exercises, and fieldwork, culminating in a dissertation that constitutes a third of final-year credits. In the first year, core modules cover archaeological methods, medieval to modern world archaeology, practical techniques, and historical sources, with options in British archaeology and ancient civilizations, plus history modules.

Year 1 Core modules: Introduction to Archaeological Methods provides you with a grounding in a range of scientific methods and techniques used in contemporary archaeology. Medieval to Modern World Archaeology introduces the archaeology of early medieval to post medieval western and northern Europe via a focus on key artefacts and sites. Archaeology Practicals examines field and laboratory techniques for the recording and analysis of primary materials, sites and monuments, using group work wherever possible. Historical Archaeology: Methods and Sources provides a grounding in a range of scientific and historical methods and techniques relevant to the archaeology of the historic era and contemporary archaeology and develops a basic critical awareness of the potential and limitations of each. In recent years, optional modules have included: Archaeology in Britain Cities in Antiquity Ancient Civilizations of the East Discovering World Prehistory. Plus: Up to TWO modules from History or ONE module from any other department including Ancient History and Classics.