This degree offers a unique opportunity to study archaeology and anthropology together as complementary approaches to the study of human diversity, from earliest prehistory to the present. This course will suit highly motivated students who have an open and inquiring mind, a passion for the material culture of the past and present, and, who wish to study one of the most interdisciplinary and varied of all subjects.
Our students benefit from:
Extraordinary access to museums and collections. As well as artefact handling sessions in local museums and archives, students study scientific techniques and methods in the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art.
Outstanding library resources. In addition to their college libraries, students can access the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World, Balfour and Tylor libraries for collections specific to archaeology, anthropology, classics and the ancient world.
College life. Oxford's beautiful colleges provide accommodation for at least two years (usually three) of the course and act as a social hub with limitless extra-curricular opportunities.
Specialist training in small groups. Oxford's tutorial system draws on a wealth of research and expertise from academics conducting pioneering research at the frontiers of academic scholarship.
Each student designs their own fieldwork project which can take place anywhere in the world
Gallery tours & object handling classes in local museums such as the Ashmolean Museum
Field trips and visits to archaeological sites bring the classroom outdoors
Students complete 4 weeks of fieldwork during the summer vacation before the 2nd year of study
For the Landscape & Ecology paper, 2nd years explore sites along the Ridgeway, including Waylands Smithy
Students can apply for internships in local museums including the Pitt Rivers Museum
Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological sites
Students pick 3 option papers from a list of nearly 30 subjects, including several classical subjects
Course Aims and Objectives
Aims
To build and encourage intellectual confidence in students, enabling them to work independently but in a well-guided framework.
To use the study of key texts, artefacts and issues to examine systematically other cultures in a multidisciplinary way.
To provide for students a sustained, carefully designed and progressively structured course which requires effort and rigour from them and which yields consistent intellectual reward and satisfaction.
To train and encourage students in appropriate analytical, research and presentational skills to the highest possible standards.
To equip students to approach major issues in their own as well as other cultures with a thoughtful and critical attitude.
To produce graduates who are able to deal with challenging intellectual problems systematically, analytically and efficiently, and who are suitable for a wide range of demanding occupations and professions, including teaching our subject in schools and higher education.
Objectives
To provide expert guidance over a very wide range of options in challenging fields of study.
To help students to acquire the skills to assess considerable amounts of material of diverse types, and to select, summarise and evaluate key aspects.
To foster in students both the skills of clear and effective communication in written and oral discourse and the organisational skills needed to plan work and meet demanding deadlines.
To provide a teaching environment in which the key features are close and regular personal attention to students, constructive criticism and evaluation of their work, and continuous monitoring of their academic progress.
To provide effective mechanisms through which able students at different levels of experience can rapidly acquire the linguistic and other skills needed to achieve their potential in the subject.
To take full and effective use in our courses of the very wide range of research expertise in our Faculty and the excellent specialist resources and collections available in the University.
To offer courses which are kept under continuous review and scrutiny.
