Archaeology University of Reading

Award	Attendance	Study	Duration	Start	Domestic fees	International fees
BA (Hons)	On-Campus	Full-time	3 years	find out	find out	find out

Course fee notes

Subject to the Government passing legislation to raise the minimum fee cap, we will raise undergraduate tuition fees from £9,000 to £9,250 for new UK/EU students applying to start courses in the 2017/18 academic year. You will not be affected by this rise if you have deferred entry to the 2017/18 academic year. The Government will confirm future arrangements for EU students in due course.

Course overview

Our BA Archaeology enables you to study the material traces of past societies from artefacts recovered through excavation to standing monuments; from the earliest humans to the first Empires and from the rise of organised religion through to the Crusades. Handle human remains and learn about burial archaeology; touch objects from the past and see how we interpret this material; utilise skills in a contemporary mock crime scene investigation. Realise how ideas of gender are reflected and imposed through the material world; how climate change has impacted on lives past and present, and how stories about the past are conveyed through museums and the media.

Study within a research-intensive department at the cutting edge of social and scientific archaeology. 97% of our research was judged to be of international standing in the latest Research Excellence Framework, 2014. You will join a friendly and welcoming department with an outstanding track record for student satisfaction — 90-100% of our archaeology students were satisfied with the quality of their course in consecutive National Student Surveys (2010-2017). You will have the opportunity to participate in a Field School during your course, gaining direct hands-on experience in all aspects of an archaeological excavation. Put your skills into practice, including excavation, surveying, GIS (geographical information systems) mapping, planning, and finds processing, and contribute to new archaeological knowledge through our discoveries.

We encourage you to get involved with archaeological excavations in the UK and Europe, such as prehistoric monuments, Roman cities to Medieval castles; but it’s not just digging. Archaeology is an academic subject that will teach you valuable theoretical and practical skills, with opportunities to use specialist equipment, work in laboratories and access three superb on-campus museums. You will also have the chance to boost your employability with our Study Abroad programme, whether in Malta, Denmark, Florida, Korea or other parts of the world.