BA History and Archaeology
About this course
BA in History and Archaeology, a history and archaeology degree centred on the study of human societies from ancient times to the modern era through material culture and written records. Core topics include Research Methods, Fieldwork, Historical Research, Communication & Writing, Critical & Analytical Thinking, and Global & Comparative Perspective. The course includes practical fieldwork placements and training in archaeological techniques alongside historical analysis. The first year establishes core foundational knowledge through modules such as Medieval Society to Globalisation, Evolution to Empire, Archaeological Fieldschool, and Investigating Archaeology. Students also take historical modules including Becoming a Historian: Core, Understanding Medieval and Early Modern History, and Understanding Modern History, alongside optional choices like Forensic Archaeology or Introduction to Islamic Archaeology. The second year advances practical and investigative skills through compulsory study in Research in Archaeology, Archaeological Fieldwork Project, and Archaeological Fieldschool. Optional modules in later stages allow specialisation in areas such as medieval social worlds, human origins and evolution, environmental arts and humanities, and specific periods of modern or early modern history.
Modules
- Medieval Society to Globalisation
- Evolution to Empire
- Archaeological Fieldschool
- Investigating Archaeology
- Becoming a Historian: Core
- Understanding Medieval and Early Modern History
- Understanding Modern History
- Introduction to Islamic Archaeology
- Forensic Archaeology
- Artefacts and Materials
- Climate Emergency! An Introduction to Environmental Arts and Humanities
- Sources and Skills: Modern
- Sources and Skills: Early Modern
- Sources and Skills: Medieval
- Research in Archaeology
- Archaeological Fieldwork Project
- Archaeological Fieldschool
- Monumental Changes: Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland
- Archaeology of the Americas
- The Archaeology and Ethnography of Hunter-Gatherers
- Analysing Artefacts and Materials
- Lords to Lepers: Medieval Social Worlds
- Things and Us: Ancient and Contemporary Material Culture
- Brooches, Beads, Swords and Shields: Early Medieval Material Culture
- Sustainability and Collapse in Past Societies
- Giving and Taking: Anthropology and Archaeology of Circulation and Exchange
- Discovering the Past with Molecular Science
- Palaeolithic Archaeology of Homo Sapiens 100,000-12,000 BP
- Trading Places, Towns, Royal Palaces and Fortifications: Early Medieval Centres in Europe
- Understanding the Landscape of Roman Britain
- Understanding the Landscape of Medieval Britain
- Medieval Castles in Context
- Romanisation: Interaction, Conquest and Change in Late Iron Age and Roman Dacia
- Zooarchaeology
- Palaeobotany
- Aerial Survey
- Forensic Anthropology
- Human Origins and Evolution: the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic
- Adventures in Environmental Arts and Humanities
- Forgetting Fascism, Remembering Communism: Memory in Modern Europe
- Deviants and Dissenters in Early Modern England
- From Gallows to ASBOs: Crime, Punishment, and Society in Britain and Ireland
- Strategy and Success in the Second World War
- Vikings and Other Invaders: Europe under Siege in in the Tenth Century
- Beyond Bridgerton: A Peoples' History of Britain, 1688-1834
- Creating an American Empire: From Westward Expansion to Colonial Empire
- Hunger Games: Poverty, Famine, and Environment
- Russia’s Empires: Societies, Peoples and Cultures
- Beyond the Tudors: Europe’s Worldview Transformed c.1500-1600
- Uses of the Past
- Doing History in the Digital Age