Bachelor of Archaeology and History

Modules

Year 1

Our first-year core modules are designed as an introduction. This means that we will build everyone's knowledge to the same level, so you can progress through to year two.

You will take 120 credits of modules split as follows:

• Compulsory core history modules (20 credits) – you will focus on thinking about the nature of history as a discipline and developing the skills required for researching, writing and debating
• Compulsory core archaeology modules (60 credits) – you will lay the foundation for your study of archaeological principles and methods, and the archaeology of Britain from prehistory to the Industrial Revolution
• Optional history modules (40 credits) – spanning the Middles Ages to the contemporary world

You’ll have at least 12 hours of timetabled contact a week through lectures, seminars and tutorials.

You must pass year one, but it does not count towards your final degree classification.

There is a requirement for you to complete 10 days of archaeological fieldwork or other professional experience, with funding available to support this. For more information visit the Archaeology fieldwork webpage

Core modules

• Understanding the Past I – Introduction to Archaeology
• Learning History
• Rome to Revolution: Historical Archaeology of Britain.
• Comparative World Prehistory

Optional history modules

• From Reformation to Revolution: An Introduction to Early Modern Europe c.1500-1800
• Making the Middle Ages, 500-1500
• The Contemporary World since 1945
• The Contemporary World Since 1945 (Part 2)
• Roads to Modernity: An Introduction to Modern History 1750-1945
• Roads to Modernity: An Introduction to Modern History 1750-1945 (Part 2)
• Making of Modern Asia

Year 2

You will take 120 credits of modules split as follows:

• Compulsory core archaeology module (20 credits) – you will study more advanced themes in archaeological research 
• History optional modules (40-60 credits) – choose from a range of modules
• Archaeology optional modules (40 credits) – choose from a range 
• American and Canadian Studies optional module (0-20 credits)

You’ll have at least 10 hours of timetabled contact a week through lectures, seminars and tutorials.

You must pass year two, which counts 33% towards your final degree classification.

Core archaeology module

• Archaeology: Theory and Practice

Archaeology optional modules
Choose 40 credits from a range, which may include: 

• Extended Source Study
• Communicating the Past
• The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England
• Themes in Near Eastern Prehistory
• Britain in the Later Roman Empire (c. 250-450)
• The Silk Road: Cultural Interactions and Perceptions

History optional modules by region
Choose 40-60 credits from a range, which may include:

• International
• Environmental History: Nature and the Western World, 1800-2000
• Great Britain
• Kingship in Crisis: Politics, People and Power in Late-medieval England
• Cultural Histories of Urban Modernity, 1840-1900
• The Second World War and Social Change in Britain, 1939-1951: Went The Day Well?
• Consumers & Citizens: Society & Culture in 18th Century England
• British Foreign Policy and the Origins of the World Wars, 1895-1939
• Sex, Lies and Gossip? Women of Medieval England
• A Tale of Seven Kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age England from Bede to Alfred the Great
• The Victorians: Life, Thought and Culture
• Poverty, Disease and Disability: Britain, 1795-1930

Europe

• The Venetian Republic, 1450-1575
• European Fascisms, 1900-1945
• Central European History: From Revolution to War, 1848-1914
• De-industrialisation: A Social and Cultural History, c.1970-1990
• Heroes and Villains in the Middle Ages
• The stranger next door: Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages
• Germany and Europe in the Short 20th Century, 1918-1990
• 'Slaves of the Devil' and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
• Travel and Adventure in the Medieval World
• Sexuality in Early Medieval Europe
• International History of the Middle East and North Africa 1918-1995

Asia

• From the Tsar to the Emperor: Russia in the Early Modern Period 1547–1725
• Soviet State and Society
• The Tokugawa World: 1600-1868
• The Rise of Modern China

The British Empire

• From East India Company to West India Failure: The First British Empire
• The British Empire from Emancipation to the Boer War
• Liberating Africa: Decolonisation, Development and the Cold War, 1919-1994
• Imagining 'Britain': Decolonising Tolkien et al
• Rule and resistance in colonial India, c.1757-1857

Year 3

You will take 120 credits of modules split as follows:

History specialisation

You either take a 40-credit history Special Subject and a 40-credit history dissertation with 40 credits of optional archaeology modules

or:

Archaeology specialisation

You take a 40-credit archaeology dissertation, 20-credit archaeology option, and a 40-credit history Special Subject, plus 20-credit history or American and Canadian studies option.

You’ll have at least eight hours of timetabled contact a week through lectures, seminars and tutorials.

You must pass year three, which counts as 67% towards your final degree classification.

History specialisation - core
Dissertation in History
Or:

Archaeology specialisation - core
Classics and Archaeology Dissertation
History Special Subject areas

• Culture, Society and Politics in 20th Century Russia
• Victorians in Italy: Travelling South in the Nineteenth Century
• The History of a Relation: Jews in Modern Europe
• Samurai Revolution: Reinventing Japan, 1853–78
• The British Civil Wars c.1639-1652
• Faith and Fire: Popular Religion in Late Medieval England
• The Black Death
• After the Golden Age: The West in the 1970s & 1980s
• British Culture in the Age of Mass Production, 1920-1950
• Life During Wartime: Crisis, Decline and Transformation in 1970s America
• Imperial Eyes: the Body in Enlightenment Thought, c.1730-1830
• Overseas Exploration, European Diplomacy, and the Rise of Tudor England
• Alternatives to War: Articulating Peace since 1815
• A Green and (un) Pleasant Land? Society, Culture and the Evolution of the British Countryside
• The past that won't go away: the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
• From Revelation to ISIS: Apocalyptic Thought from the 1st to 21st Century
• Plague, Fire and the Reimagining of the Capital 1600-1720: The Making of Modern London
• Transnationalising Italy: A History of Modern Italy in a Transnational Perspective

Archaeology optional modules
History specialisation: choose 40 credits 

Archaeology specialisation: choose 20 credits 

• The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England
• Themes in Near Eastern Prehistory
• Britain in the Later Roman Empire (c. 250-450)
• The Silk Road: Cultural Interactions and Perceptions

History optional modules by region

• Archaeology specialisation only: choose 20 credits from a range.  

Great Britain

• Britain on Film
• Henry VIII: Monarchy, Power and Religion in England, 1509-1547
• The Rise and Fall of Thatcherism, 1975-1992
• The Celtic Fringe: Scotland and Ireland, c.1066-1603
• Crime and Punishment in England
• The 1960's: A Decade of Change?
• Artistic Licence: Social Satire and Political Caricature in Britain, c1780-c1850
• Philosophies of the Revolution: Anti-Imperialism and British Decolonization in the Twentieth Century

Europe

• 'Slaves of the Devil' and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
• Italy at War, 1935-45
• Napoleonic Europe and its Aftermath, 1799-1848
• Peoples, Places, Races and Monsters: the Known and the Unknown in High-Medieval Travel
• The Rise (and Demise?) of Capitalism

Asia

• Global Histories of Labour and Capital: Perspectives from India

North America
The following modules are offered by the Department of American and Canadian Studies:

• North American Film Adaptations
• The Special Relationship, Spit and Slavery- Britain and the US 1776-1877