Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology

at University of Southampton - Avenue Campus United Kingdom

Discover how human civilisations evolved, and why people and societies have changed over time. Through the latest techniques and technologies, you'll investigate how our ancestors lived, from the earliest human origins, to Neolithic Britain and Ancient Egypt. On BSc Archaeology you could look into climate change at the end of the last ice age or what the chemical composition of human bones can tell us about diet during the medieval period.

Archaeology is the study of the human past through its material remains, such as:

• Buildings
• Monuments
• Artefacts
• Biological remains
• Written sources
• Landscape

Whether in the laboratory or on a dig, you'll develop transferable skills by exploring questions about people in the past and in the present.

On this archaeology BSc, you'll focus on scientific methods and techniques, with options including:

• Studying human and animal bones     
• Physics and chemistry of archaeological material
• Laboratory techniques for dating
• Maritime archaeology

You'll learn through research-led projects and practical field experience. You'll do a minimum of 3 weeks’ fieldwork as part of an active research project. This could include:

• Excavating archaeological sites
• Recording a standing building
• Conducting geophysical surveys
• Collecting archaeological material from ploughed fields

We have a purpose-built archaeology building, equipped with the latest science-based laboratories. Here, you'll gain hands-on experience with archaeological artefacts and materials, and receive the practical training needed for a career in archaeology.

We’re also offering up to 10 bursaries of £1000 each to incoming students (subject to criteria). These are from the Terry Mason Bursary and the University of Southampton Archaeology Bursary Fund.

If you have a passion for literature, music and experiencing new ideas, this joint honours English and Music degree is for you. We will introduce you to a wide range of texts, topics and musical styles. Our course will help you explore the connections between English and Music, like lyrical poetry, opera, musicals and film.

Our English modules cover writing from around the world and its connection to politics, the arts, identity and more.

In Music, you can study everything from Italian opera to global hip hop, while developing your own musical practice.

With our advice, you can shape your degree to suit your own development. For example, you might learn about the literature of the Harlem Renaissance, while exploring jazz theory in Music.

As part of this course you can:

• Join one of 40 student-led performing arts groups
• Spend a semester at one of our global partner universities
• Take part in writing workshops at Nuffield Southampton Theatres
• Use a unique collection of rare books at the Chawton House Library
• Learn a modern language at any level
• Explore experimental writing with our Entropics events
• Get one-to-one tutorials on writing from our Royal Literary Fund Fellows

To explore your passion for Music you can:

• Attend an extensive series of professional concerts and workshops in our acclaimed Turner Sims concert hall
• Join a band, orchestra or choir and take part in a thriving local music scene

This joint honours course examines far-reaching questions that have puzzled great thinkers for centuries, but are still relevant today. You'll explore human welfare and social justice, political ideals and economic realities. You'll study economics and philosophy abroad for a year to broaden your knowledge and experience, and graduate as a confident and independent self-starter equipped with the skills for a successful career.

Your A level results will determine which core or compulsory modules you'll need to take.

In your economics and philosophy degree with year abroad you can:

• Develop an understanding of philosophical questions such as ethics, reason and responsibility
• Study broad principles in economics as well as develop knowledge in your own specialist area, such as principles of finance, labour economics or econometrics
• Learn how to use your new skills to find employment and build a career as an economist
• Study abroad at one of our partner institutions
• Develop research and presentation skills

Explore the evolution, biology and behaviour of humankind through the study of our Stone Age ancestors. With this specialist master’s in palaeoanthropology you’ll gain expertise in the analysis of stone tools and hominin skulls to understand our evolutionary journey. You’ll work closely with experts in our Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO) and benefit from opportunities to apply your learning in real-world settings.

We’re ranked Top 30 in the world for archaeology (QS World University Rankings, 2019).

Your specialist palaeoanthropology learning will cover:

• handling and interpreting stone tools
• the role of evolutionary models, experimental testing, primatological data and ethnographies in the study of human origins
• developing methods to interrogate meaning from collections of stone tools
• using SPSS statistical analysis software

Palaeolithic symbolism and language, migration and responses to environmental change
Beyond your specialist modules you can personalise this palaeonthropology MSc to your areas of interest.

We bring expertise together from across the University, including Medicine, Humanities, the National Oceanography Centre, Engineering and Winchester School of Art, to help you gain both scientific skills and cultural understanding through a range of optional modules.

This is a very practical degree, but you don’t need prior knowledge of biology or anthropology. You’ll be based in our dedicated John Wymer Laboratory, with its own specialist library and large collection of stone tools and hominin skulls. Staff, PhD students and MSc students work in the same space, creating a lively learning environment. As a student on this course you automatically become a member of the CAHO research group.

You’ll have the opportunity to apply your skills on a 4-week placement, where you’ll gain valuable real-world experience of the archaeology sector and heritage industry. Previous placements have included Historic England, Wessex Archaeology and The Nautical Archaeology Society.

This  Palaeoanthropology course offers a balance between vocational and research skills. During your dissertation you’ll be able to embed with one of our research groups to do original research on a topic of that you choose. There is the possibility that this work will be published.

Southampton is close to the World Heritage sites of Stonehenge and Avebury and we have research projects engaged with both sites, as well as a range of other archaeological projects across the Globe.

If you’d prefer a less specialised archaeology master’s degree, or you’d like to focus on a different specialism, you can choose from our 3 other Archaeology MSc pathways. When you join us you’ll have 2 weeks in which you can change pathway if you wish.

From the Aztecs and Maya to Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire and the medieval world, you'll study the story of human activity and the origins of civilisation. You'll gain an understanding of how human societies came into being, how and why they changed over time, and the underlying reasons for human diversity today. In your final year, you'll develop in-depth knowledge and skills in a specific area of archaeology.

Archaeology is the study of the human past through its material remains. This integrated undergraduate and master's degree will teach you the many methods and techniques we use to find, excavate and investigate historical sites and materials.

During your master's in archaeology, you'll learn how to handle, describe and interpret archaeological objects and data. As you become more confident, you'll recognise and interpret your finds in the field and carry out advanced archaeological techniques.

The undergraduate grounding (following the framework of the BA in Archaeology) will give you a foundation in archaeology. The final postgraduate archaeology year enables you to develop your own interests in specialist fields so that you can target the career path you want to follow. For example, you could choose to explore the archaeologist profession in commercial archaeology or the museums and heritage sector.

This master's degree in archaeology is flexible so you can choose your own path. You'll have options to focus on areas like:

• Museums and heritage management
• Studying human and animal bones
• Environmental impact assessment
• Maritime archaeology

We have a purpose-built archaeology building, equipped with the latest science-based laboratories. You'll gain hands-on experience with archaeological artefacts and materials, and receive the practical training needed for a career in professional archaeology.

Postgraduate archaeology courses teach a wide range of transferable skills such as:

• Evidence-based reasoning
• Problem-solving
• Project management

We’re also offering up to 10 bursaries of £1000 each to incoming students (subject to criteria). These are from the Terry Mason Bursary and the University of Southampton Archaeology Bursary Fund.

Study film from a variety of perspectives: as popular art, big business and as a cultural record on our film degree with year abroad . Immerse yourself in the subject, from the earliest projected images to the present day. Learn how to view Hollywood blockbusters, European and world cinema with a critical eye. A year abroad will enhance your understanding of visual arts and let you experience a new culture.

You'll study familiar classics alongside contemporary cinema, and genres including:

• film noir
• horror
• science fiction
• documentary
• animation

You'll deepen your understanding and enjoyment of film and develop your critical thinking as part of a lively community.

You'll spend your third year studying at one of our partner universities abroad. Your options include: South Korea, Sweden, Ireland or the Czech Republic – countries with their own distinctive film cultures. You can take lectures in English but may also improve your languages. We'll help you plan your year abroad to suit your interests.

As part of this course you can:

• explore British, European and world cinema
• discover early film through archive visits
• use our extensive library resources, including over 5,800 films from around the world
• take modules from other courses, such as English, history and music
• volunteer at a cinema to develop new skills, such as team leading, projection and digital design
• submit your own film to our annual student film festival

On this joint BA honours course you’ll explore the major events and ideas that have shaped the world around us. You’ll consider some of the biggest questions of Western philosophy: Is there a god? What is morality? In History you'll learn to develop your own interpretations of disputed narratives. You'll get to study both philosophy and history abroad during a placement year.

You’ll learn in small groups in a relaxed and friendly environment. You'll benefit from the expertise of academic staff whose research feeds directly into the course content.

Compulsory modules will give you a strong grounding in both subjects. Optional module choices will give you the freedom to pursue your own interests in topics as varied as metaphysics, Reagan’s America, and witchcraft in 17th century England.

You can broaden your knowledge by taking modules from other disciplines. These include topics such as social enterprise, risk management, and living and working on the web. You can also study a language.

You'll improve your employability and learning experience further by spending your third year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions.

In your degree you can:

• Develop an understanding of philosophical questions such as ethics, reason and responsibility
• Learn about different approaches to history and gain access to a wonderful collection of primary evidence
• Explore how political motives and other forms of bias shape the way we think about the past
• Study areas of history rarely taught in most other UK universities, for example:  East and Central European history, South East Asian history and Jewish history

At Southampton, English is an interdisciplinary course. You’ll see how literature connects with areas such as film, science, performance and politics. You can study everything from medieval travellers’ tales to modern fictions of globalisation.

With our advice, you can shape your BA English degree to suit your own development. For example, you can:

• Write avant-garde poetry
• Study Victorian sensation fiction
• Take a range of modules on women writers

Your studies will include critical analysis, presentations and group work. These will help you develop your conceptual thinking, communication and research skills.

As part of this course you can:

• Join one of 40 student-led performing arts groups
• Take part in writing workshops at Nuffield Southampton Theatres
• Use a unique collection of rare books at the Chawton House Library
• Learn a modern language at any level
• Explore experimental writing with our Entropics events
• Get one-to-one tutorials on writing from our Royal Literary Fund Fellows

You’ll have the opportunity to study abroad, spending a semester, a summer or even a full year at one of our global partner universities.

Learn how to uncover the secrets of past lives through the study of human and animal skeletons. With this specialist master’s in bioarchaeology, you’ll gain expertise in human anatomy, with unlimited access to our large skeletal collection. You’ll also develop skills in faunal analysis; we have one of the largest reference collections of mammals, birds and fish in the UK.

We’re ranked Top 30 in the world for archaeology (QS World University Rankings, 2019).

Your specialist bioarcheology learning will cover:

• analysing human bones to understand age, sex, diet, health and migration
• identifying mammals, birds and fish through skeletal remains
• understanding fossilisation and bone modification
• interpreting archaeology from collections of remains

Beyond your specialist modules you can personalise this MSc bioarchaeology degree to your areas of interest through a range of optional modules.

This archaeological science master's is a very practical degree, but you don’t need prior knowledge of biology or anatomy. You’ll spend a lot of time in our dedicated archaeology laboratories and you’ll have access to specialist isotope labs and a scanning, imaging and micro-CT suite.

You’ll work closely with experts in our Centre for Learning Anatomical Sciences and benefit from opportunities to apply your learning in real-world settings.

There's an opportunity to apply your learning on a 4-week placement, where you’ll gain valuable real-world experience of the archaeology sector and heritage industry. Previous placements have included Historic England, Wessex Archaeology and The Nautical Archaeology Society.

We bring expertise together from across the University, including Medicine, Humanities, the National Oceanography Centre, Engineering and Winchester School of Art, to enable you to gain both scientific skills and cultural understanding.

This bioarchaeology master's offers a balance between vocational and research skills. During your dissertation you’ll be able to embed with one of our research groups to do original research on a topic that you choose. There is the possibility that this work will be published.

Southampton is close to the World Heritage sites of Stonehenge and Avebury and we have research projects engaged with both sites, as well as a range of other archaeological projects across the Globe.

Philosophy and Film share similar perspectives, from the value of art to national identity and politics. At Southampton, we offer this exciting film and philosophy degree for movie lovers and abstract thinkers. Here you'll learn to analyse deep, theoretical ideas, and explore film as an art, an industry and a passion.

You'll explore Film from a variety of perspectives: as popular art, big business and as a cultural record. From early Hollywood films to European and world cinema, you'll study the first projected images, today's digital movies and much more in between.

Philosophy modules will give you a strong grounding in ethical, logical and critical thought. You can examine the most fundamental questions we face, in a rigorous and systematic way.

You'll research and discuss the theories and philosophies that have shaped film studies as a subject. These include:

• psychoanalysis
• postmodernism
• structuralism

 As part of this course you can:

• take modules in film noir, animation, horror and sci-fi
• use our extensive library resources, including over 5,800 films from around the world
• get involved in our outreach events that bring philosophy to the wider public
• submit your own film to our annual student film festival

We offer a 4-week summer school at Dongguk University in Seoul. This includes film and cultural orientation courses.