Studying Archaeology at Postgraduate Level: Specialist Courses
What sort of specialist degree courses are available?
Archaeology is a broad subject linking with many others, including geography, history, social sciences, maths, physics, biology, chemistry, art, religion, landscape management, conservation, forensic science and technology; it therefore can be studied from many different perspectives. Generally, however, these break down into period/location-related perspectives (Medieval Archaeology, Roman Archaeology, Egyptian Archaeology etc) or discipline ethos-based perspectives: Archaeological Science, Marine Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology etc).
Common titles and specialist subjects for taught postgraduate courses include:
- Bioarchaeology
- Osteoarchaeology
- Classical Archaeology (Roman and Greek)
- Egyptology
- Environmental Archaeology
- Field Archaeology
- Forensic Archaeology
- Heritage
- Historical Archaeology
- Medieval Archaeology
- Landscape Archaeology
- GIS (Geographical Information Systems)
- Maritime Archaeology
- Museum Studies
However, the range of titles changes constantly and there is a wide variety of specialisms to choose from; many only taught at one university, eg MA Archaeology and Screen Media, MA Experimental Archaeology, MA Industrial Archaeology, MA Military Archaeology.
The word archaeology does not always feature in the course title, so you will need to search widely using other words, for example art history, history, artefacts studies, conservation, culture, heritage.
Some degrees are geared towards the needs of becoming a professional field archaeologists, while others are designed to support further progression onto research degrees.
