Archaeology and Ancient Civilisations VQ48

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Typical offers

Typical offers
A Level	AAB
BTEC	DDD
International Baccalaureate	36

Course details

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live in an ancient civilisation? Are you fascinated by what the civilisations of the past can teach us about the present?

This course gives you a good overview of the world of archaeology, but also allows you to focus in particular on the great ancient civilisations of Europe, the Near East and Asia, including Ancient Greece and Rome, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

This degree offers great flexibility, with options to take modules from other departments, including Classics and Ancient History. Depending on your module choices you may even be able to receive professional accreditation from the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists.

Using archaeological techniques and approaches, this course puts the heritage of Greece and Rome under the lens. Drawing on the latest research, it also provides a chance to explore Egypt and North Africa, as well as the lesser-known civilisations of the Near East and South Asia. The course provides an exciting mix of traditional scholarship and field-based skills.

The course offers an optional study abroad element, where you may spend the third year of a four-year course studying at an overseas university. You can also put your learning into practice by applying to add a placement year to your degree.

Course Structure

Year 1

Core modules:

Ancient Civilisations: Sources, Approaches and Methods* gives you a grounding in a range of scientific methods and techniques used in contemporary archaeology, and will help you develop a critical awareness of the potential and limitations of each.

Archaeology Practicals introduces field and laboratory techniques for the recording and analysis of primary materials, sites and monuments, using group work wherever possible.

Cities in Antiquity provides you with a broad overview of the archaeology of the Greco-Roman world from 800 BC to AD 400. It also gives you the opportunity to develop your knowledge and to practice your evaluative skills through essay writing and a written examination.

Introduction to Archaeological Methods* provides you with a grounding in a range of scientific methods and techniques used in archaeology today, and will help you to develop a critical awareness of the potential and limitations of each.

In recent years, optional modules have included:

Archaeology in Britain
Discovering World Prehistory
Ancient Civilisations of the East
Medieval to Modern: An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Medieval to Post-Medieval World.

Year 2

Core modules:

Professional Training* (requires three weeks of fieldwork in the summer before starting Year 2) uses practical experience to give you an understanding of the objectives and operation of a fieldwork project and how data and material produced by archaeological projects is processed.

Developing Archaeological Research* develops your understanding of research design and the practical skills necessary for archaeological research. You will develop skills in graphics, illustration and presentation techniques as well as learning the basic theory behind research design.

Ancient Mediterranean Civilisations: East and West gives you a broad overview of the archaeology of the Mediterranean from 750 BC to AD 700. It also allows you to develop your knowledge and to practice your evaluative skills through essays and seminar presentations and a written examination.

In recent years, optional modules have included:

Advanced Skills
Prehistoric Europe: From Foragers to State Formation
Becoming Roman: from Iron Age to Empire in Italy and the West
Archaeology of Medieval and Post-medieval Britain in its European Context
The East Mediterranean in the Bronze Age
Scientific Methods in Archaeology.

Year 3 (Year 4 if undertaking a placement or year abroad)

Core modules:

Archaeology Dissertation* significantly develops your skills in independent research, the analysis and presentation of evidence and how to structure a persuasive argument. This will involve writing an extended dissertation in your chosen specialist area of archaeology.

Specialised Aspects in Archaeology will help you develop an understanding of specialised aspects of archaeology, chosen from a list of topics representing the main areas of research in the Department.

In recent years, optional modules have included:

Advanced Professional Training (requires three weeks of fieldwork in the summer before starting Year 3)
Current Archaeology
Interpreting Heritage
Museum Representation.
Archaeology and Global Sustainable Development.

All modules marked with * form part of an Accredited CIfA pathway.

Fieldwork

You will undertake six weeks of compulsory fieldwork – three weeks at our field school in Year 1, and three weeks at an excavation of your choice in Year 2.

Additional pathways

Students on the BA in Archaeology and Ancient Civilisations can apply to be transferred onto either the ‘with Year Abroad’ or ‘with Placement’ pathway during the second year. Places on these pathways are in high demand and if you are chosen your studies will extend from three years to four.

Placement

You may be able to take a work placement. Find out more.

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Fees and funding

Full Time Fees

Tuition fees
Home students	£9,535 per year
EU students	£28,000 per year
Island students	£9,535 per year
International students	£28,000 per year

The tuition fees shown for home students are for one complete academic year of full time study and are set according to the academic year of entry. Fees for subsequent years of your course may rise in line with an inflationary uplift as determined by the government.

The tuition fees shown for overseas and EU students are for one complete academic year of full time study, are set according to the academic year of entry, and will be subject to an annual inflationary increase and are expected to rise throughout the programme of study. The fee listed above is for the first year of the course only; fees for subsequent years will be confirmed not less than 3 months before the start of the academic year to which the increase is intended to apply and will be published on the Finance webpages.

In deciding the annual level of increase the University will take into account inflationary pressures on the costs of delivery. Tuition fees will rise annually by up to the higher of;

6%, or,
the latest annual percentage increase in the Consumer Prices Index.

Please also check costs for colleges and accommodation.

Scholarships and Bursaries

We are committed to supporting the best students irrespective of financial circumstances and are delighted to offer a range of funding opportunities.

Find out more about Scholarships and Bursaries

Department information

Archaeology

Gain an understanding of the present by unlocking the past. Combine academic theory with lab and fieldwork and the examination of historic objects when you study in this world-leading Department at the heart of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Archaeology at Durham is an exciting and diverse discipline that delves into the past to inform our understanding of the modern world. Covering a wide range of topics from early human development and ancient civilisations to colonialism and slavery in the early modern world, this broad-based discipline can take you into many different careers.

We are an inclusive and vibrant international teaching and research community that offers plenty of opportunities for you to get involved, from research seminars and reading groups to field-based projects. Our research-led approach to learning means you will be taught by subject specialists whose wide-ranging interests span World, European and British archaeology from the last ice age to the post-medieval period.

Combining practical work with traditional academic study, you will explore archaeological sites and historic buildings, study scientific methods, archaeological theories and computer techniques. Fieldwork takes you around the world, with previous projects ranging from Africa to the Lebanon. Closer to home you will learn about the rich and varied heritage of the UK. Our location in Durham is ideal for the study of archaeology with UNESCO World Heritage Site, such as Durham Cathedral and Hadrian's Wall on our doorstep.

We offer a range of single and joint honours BA and BSc degrees with flexible pathways to suit your interests and career goals, and most courses include the possibility of a work placement or year abroad.

For more information see our department pages.

Rankings

10th in the QS World University Subject Rankings for Archaeology 2023
1st in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024
3rd in The Complete University Guide 2024

6th in The Guardian University Guide 2024

Staff

For a current list of staff, please see our Archaeology pages.

Research Excellence Framework

97% of our research outputs graded world-leading or internationally excellent (REF 2021)

Facilities

We are based in the Dawson Building at the heart of the Durham city campus. We are one of the most comprehensively equipped archaeology departments in the UK with research laboratories in DNA, conservation, isotope analysis, environmental archaeology, luminescence dating, paleopathology and bone chemistry.

The Department is also home to a leading commercial archaeological fieldwork unit. This enables us to provide expert training in excavation and fieldwork techniques from working archaeologists. In addition, we have a number of dedicated library collections and a gallery which hosts our extensive collection of archaeological artefacts.

Fieldtrips are an important part of the student experience at Durham. First year students undertake a two-week placement, with most working on our internationally significant excavations at Auckland Castle. Second- and third-year undergraduates join us on digs around the world to gain international experience, with recent projects in France, Spain, Kuwait, Nepal and Egypt.