EUROPEAN ARCHAEOLOGY OXFORD UNIVERSITY - POSTGRADUATE

The School of Archaeology, which brings together staff in Social Sciences and Humanities, has responsibility for all graduate degrees in Archaeology except the MSc in Professional Archaeology, MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology and the part-time DPhil in Archaeology. Candidates are admitted by the Committee for the School. There are undergraduate degree courses in Archaeology and Anthropology, and in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History. Archaeological options are also available in some other undergraduate degrees.Degrees by research (MLitt or DPhil)Candidates for a degree by thesis rather than examination are ordinarily admitted in the first instance as Probationer Research Students. If candidates for an MLitt or DPhil have no first degree in Archaeology, they may be advised to take the appropriate MPhil or MSt as a first step. As with all MLitt or DPhil degrees, there is no formal course of instruction, and candidates are guided in their work by supervisors appointed by the Committee for the School of Archaeology.Courses of study leading to Master's degreesOne-year MSt and two-year MPhil courses are offered in Classical Archaeology, European Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology and World Archaeology. In each case, the MSt course and the first year of the MPhil are identical taught courses, and the examination is also the same. For this, candidates are required to choose three subjects or periods to study, from a wide list. There is considerable flexibility, which allows the choice of one of the options to be made from one of the other courses if desired, and candidates may also ask to study special topics not on any of the lists, provided teaching is available.Success in the examination at the end of the first year entitles a candidate either to receive the MSt degree or to qualify for admission to the second year of the MPhil course. Candidates who study for a second year for the MPhil degree are required to prepare a short thesis (up to 25,000 words) on a chosen topic, and to select one further subject for examination.The format of the written examinations for the MSt and MPhil first year offers candidates a combination of traditional unseen question papers and pairs of 5,000-word pre-set essays with the option of a 10,000-word dissertation for MSt candidates; for full details of this, and for the lists of subjects available in Classical, European and World Archaeology, see the current Examination Regulations. Between them, the options for these MSt and MPhil courses range in time from the Palaeolithic period to the Middle Ages, and there are many regional subjects, topics concerned with art and architecture, and methodological subjects. General informationCandidates for the MPhil and MSt are expected to have obtained a first or good second-class degree (for Classical Archaeology in an appropriate classical subject), or to produce other evidence of suitability. The course for the MSt is three terms, and that for the MPhil six terms. All candidates are expected to possess competence in the foreign languages appropriate to their subject.MSt, MSc, and research degrees in Archaeological Science are also available. The archaeology website (see information panel) gives access to details of courses, facilities and academic staff.Classical archaeological subjects may be read as part of the MSt and MPhil in Greek and/or Roman History and in Greek and Latin Language and Literature and an Anglo-Saxon subject may be read as part of the MPhil in English Medieval Studies.Teaching for MSt and MPhil candidates, and supervision of MLitt or DPhil candidates is provided by eight professors, one reader, and seven lecturers (covering World and European Prehistory, Greek and Roman Archaeology, Anglo-Saxon Archaeology and African Archaeology), by curatorial staff of the Ashmolean Museum and by other Senior Members of the University. The Professor of Archaeological Science and his colleagues also contribute to the teaching.FacilitiesThe Ashmolean Museum contains extensive collections of antiquities. It is especially rich in classical Greek material, in European, and in Egyptian archaeology. There is an excellent cast gallery of classical sculpture, and the Beazley Archive holds photographs of vases and sculpture. The Pitt Rivers Museum has collections of the Palaeolithic and later Prehistoric periods from many parts of the world, which can be studied in relation to comparable ethnographical material. Other museums in Oxford also hold archaeological material.The main archaeological library is the Sackler Library, now housed in a new building adjacent to the Ashmolean Museum. It has excellent coverage of Greek and Roman archaeology and of most aspects of European and Near Eastern archaeology, and is supplemented by the Balfour Library at the Pitt Rivers Museum and the small library of the Institute of Archaeology.The Institute of Archaeology, between the Ashmolean Museum and the Sackler Library, is the centre of much of the teaching in archaeology, and has some common room and technical facilities. There are some University funds from which grants for archaeological research can be made.The Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art provides the focus for teaching and research into archaeological science.