Mediterranean Archaeology

The Mediterranean, the world’s largest inland sea and the interface of Europe, Africa and western Asia, is one of the major crucibles of cultural, economic and political change in world history, a focus of scholarship for all periods between the Palaeolithic and the present, and a place where the past plays a critical role in the present, as well as in the creation of a viable future.

Students will develop an understanding of Mediterranean societies from earliest times to the early Medieval period, and of major interpretative paradigms and principal investigative techniques - including fieldwork and archaeological science - applied to the Mediterranean. One or more specific regions will be analysed in depth from a comparative perspective, and Mediterranean societies will be studied holistically.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of three core modules (45 credits), three optional modules (45 credits) and a dissertation/report (90 credits).

Core modules

All students are required to take the following: 

• Mediterranean Dynamics
• Themes, Thought and Theory in World Archaeology: Foundations

Optional modules

From an outstanding range of Master's optional modules, students choose options to the value of 60 credits, at least one of which must be choses from the following options; 

• Mediterrean Prehistory 
• The Mediterranean World in the Iron Age
• The Transformation of the Roman Mediterranean. 

The remaining must be made up from the list below: 

• Aegean Prehistory: major themes and current debates
• Ancient Italy in the Mediterranean
• Art: Interpretation and Explanation
• British and European Prehistory: Neolithic to Iron Age
• Egyptian Archaeology: An Object-Based Theoretical Approach
• Intangible Dimensions of Museum Objects from Egypt
• Making and Meaning in Ancient Greek Art
• Making and Meaning in Ancient Roman Art
• Medieval Archaeology: Selected Topics and Current Problems
• Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Near East: City-states and Empires
• Museum and Site Interpretation
• Society and Culture in Ancient Egypt
• The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of the Near East: The Emergence of Villages and Urban Societies
• Themes, Thought and Theory in World Archaeology: Current Topics
• Making and Meaning in Ancient Roman Art

Dissertation/report

All students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of 15,000 words. Approaches that explore new connections or comparisons are strongly encouraged.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of seminars and assessed through essays and the dissertation.

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor’s degree in archaeology or a related subject from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

UK/EU students are eligible to apply for AHRC funding.

A small number of IoA Master's Award bursaries, normally in the region of £1,000, are available each year.