Archaeology and Anthropology: University of Oxford

Archaeology and Anthropology

Archaeology and anthropology together encompass the study of humankind from the distant origins of the human species to the present day. Both disciplines have a long history. Archaeology grew from 18th-century antiquarianism while anthropology began even earlier in the early days of colonial encounter. Today both subjects involve a range of sophisticated approaches shared with the arts, social sciences and physical sciences. There is also lively interaction. Thus, for example, the anthropological study of primates and early humans helps archaeologists, using the physical remains recovered, to reconstruct the ways in which our earliest ancestors lived, while scientific dating techniques produce the time-frame and the latest genetic analyses define their relationships to modern human populations.

Entrance requirements

Combination of Arts and Science subjects.

Work placements/international opportunities

As part of your course you are required to undertake at least three weeks of fieldwork on a project that you will select for yourself. Advice is available from your college tutor and from members of the Schools of Archaeology and Anthropology. Your fieldwork, which must be approved by the Standing Committee that runs the degree, may be anywhere in the world – South Africa, the Andes and Georgia are recent destinations. For most people it is likely to take an archaeological form on either an excavation or as part of a field-survey team, but museum-based work and participation in primatological or social anthropological fieldwork are also possible. Further archaeological fieldwork may be provided by the School of Archaeology in the form of a compulsory training excavation. Financial support for this fieldwork is available from the University and may also be available from your college. In the first term of your second year you will write a report on the fieldwork that you have undertaken. You may also engage in fieldwork as part of your final year dissertation, while other opportunities may exist for work-based learning in the University’s museums.

A typical weekly timetable

Your work is divided among lectures, tutorials and practical classes. In the first year, you will spend about five hours a week in lectures, closely tied to the course’s core papers and option papers. These take up about five hours a week in year 1 and up to ten hours a week in years 2 and 3. Throughout the course, there are one or two tutorials per week (a total of twelve in each term).
Application procedure.

You will be required to submit two recent marked essays written as part of a school or college subject, preferably in different subjects, plus a statement of up to 300 words setting out your understanding of the relations between archaeology, social and cultural anthropology, and biological anthropology. If you do not have essays available, please consult your college of preference, or college you are allocated to if you make an open application.

Course summary

1st year 2nd and 3rd year Courses

Four core courses are taken:

• Introduction to world archaeology
• Introduction to anthropological theory
• Perspectives on human evolution
• The nature of archaeological enquiry
• Practical classes
• Fieldwork

Assessment

• First university examinations (moderations)
• Four written papers

2nd and 3rd year Courses

Four core courses and three optional courses taken:

• Social analysis and interpretation
• Cultural representations, beliefs and practices
• Landscape, ecology and human evolution
• Urbanization and change in complex societies
• Options (three from a broad range of anthropological and archaeological courses)
• Practical classes
• Thesis

Assessment

• Final university examinations
• Seven written papers; thesis