Welcome to the School of Archaeology

Archaeology is a subject with great popular and academic appeal which sheds light on six million years of human history as well as on sites of local interest in Britain and elsewhere. Fieldwork is carried out in many parts of the world, from the Mediterranean to southern Africa, Iceland to New Guinea.

Members of the School conduct major programmes of research into human origins and dispersals, climate change, dating of sites & materials, human diet & health, the nature of the ancient city and Medieval settlement & burial. The School supports teaching in two major undergraduate degrees – Archaeology & Anthropology and Classical Archaeology & Ancient History, as well as a range of post-graduate degrees.

News and Announcements

Open Day - Honour School of Archaeology and Anthropology

The Honour School of Archaeology and Anthropology Open Day will take place on Friday 2nd March 2012. Register for a place and find out more here.

Wolfson Graduate Studentship in Archaeology

Wolfson College, in conjunction with the School of Archaeology, offers a scholarship for students who will be studying for a DPhil in Archaeology at the University of Oxford in the academic year 2012 – 2013.

Graduate Scholarship in Archaeology at St Cross College

The School of Archaeology, jointly with St Cross College, offers a scholarship for students who will be studying for a DPhil in Archaeology at Oxford University in the academic year 2012-13. The Studentship is open to all students taking the DPhil in Archaeology (beginning in Michaelmas 2012) at St Cross.

Exhibition remembers wartime refugees

An exhibition hosted by the Institute of Archaeology is to remember the experiences of refugees who sought shelter in Oxford during World War II.

DPhil Studentships Available

The School of Archaeology invites applications for three DPhil studentships funded by a research project grant from the European Research Council. The project title is Landscapes and Identities: the case of the English Landscape 1500 BC – AD 1086.

Institute of Archaeology - 50th Anniversary Celebrations

Catch-up with the celebrations during the Institute's golden anniversary year by visiting our 50th anniversary page. Please fill out the form on the page if you would like to keep in touch with the department. We would like to hear from both alumni and friends alike and we plan to produce an anniversary booklet in early 2012.

Sealinks Project Recognised

On 8th December, Dr. Nicky Boivin attended a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. The event was in recognition of the role of adventurers and explorers and coincided with an exhibition at the Palace showing items related to exploration and adventure from the royal archives. Nicky was invited in recognition of her project on ancient Indian Ocean connections and trade, the ERC-funded Sealinks Project. Other guests included Ranulph Fiennes, Ellen MacArthur, David Attenborough, and Chris Bonington.

Holocene Hunter-Gatherers of Northeast Asia

Two members of the School of Archaeology (Professor Chris Bronk Ramsey and Dr Rick Schulting) are part of a major new research project titled ‘Holocene Hunter-Gatherers of Northeast Asia’.

Doctoral Studentships - Centre for Asian Archaeology, Art and Culture

The School of Archaeology invites applications for two studentships funded by a research project grant from the Leverhulme Trust. The project title is China and Inner Asia (c.1000-200BC): Interactions that changed China.

Hazel Down Lynchets. Credit: Ian R. Cartwright.

The English Landscapes and Identities Project

A new five-year project is announced today looking at the history of the English landscape from the middle Bronze Age to the Norman period. ‘The English Landscapes and Identities project’ will use a mass of mapped data for the period from the middle Bronze Age to the Domesday Book (AD1086) to explore continuities and changes in the use of the land in different parts of England

Modern polar bears descended from extinct bears from Ireland

Scientists have discovered that modern polar bears are descended from now extinct brown bears that roamed the region we know today as Britain and Ireland. It is thought that polar bears moved into this area just before, or during the last Ice Age, where they mated with female brown bears.

Of Muck and Men

A new approach using stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios in ancient crop remains suggests that early farmers practised manuring with dung from herded livestock. These results have radical implications for understanding the ecology of early farming and its social consequences.