History and Archaeology BA Honours (VV41)

Our degrees are divided into Stages. Each Stage lasts for an academic year and you need to complete modules totalling 120 credits by the end of each Stage.

Programme modules do change and therefore may differ for your year of entry.

• ARA1027 Introduction to Archaeology
• ARA1030 The Archaeology of Britain from the Romans to the 20th Century
• HIS1029 Varieties of History
• HIS1030 Evidence and Argument

You select one or two of the modules below:

• ARA1001 Stuff: Living in a Material World
• ARA1026 Introduction to Archaeological Science
• ARA1028 Prehistoric Britain
• HIS1025 World Empires
• HIS1027 European History
• HIS1044 Aspects of British History
• HIS1046 The History of the Americas

If only one module is selected from the above list then you will take one other open elective module. We recommend the following:

• CAC1012 Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology

At the end of Stage 1 you complete at least two weeks of excavation fieldwork.

• ARA2012 Fieldwork and Archaeological Practice

You take five of the following modules, choosing at least two modules from History and at least one from Archaeology:

History modules:

• HIS2003 Religion and Politics in Tudor England, c.1470-1558
• HIS2012 Clash of Civilisations: Islam, the Crusades and the Mongol Invasions (c.750-1300)
• HIS2055 The Later Russian Empire 1796-1917
• HIS2072 Anglo-Saxon England: From Roman Britain to the Norman Conquest, 410-1066
• HIS2078 Approaches to the History of Western Medicine
• HIS2082 20th Century Spain, 1898-2004
• HIS2084 Europe's Reformations
• HIS2085 Pre-Columbian and Spanish America
• HIS2087 A Civilian's War: The Second World War 1939-1945
• HIS2103 The Dark Ages: Early Medieval Europe and its Neighbours, 500-900
• HIS2123 The Family, Sex and Society in Early Modern England
• HIS2124 A History of Contemporary Britain
• HIS2114 Death, Dying and the Dead in Early Modern England, 1500-1800
• HIS2131 American Slavery, American Freedom: Black and White America in the Age of Revolutions
• HIS2132 The Criminal Atlantic in the Long Eighteenth Century: Pirates, Convicts and Rebels
• HIS2133 Society and Politics in Colonial India, 1880s-1947
• HIS2140 Survey History of Japan
• HIS2212 History and Memory in the United States
• HIS2239 New: Middle East/Ottoman Empire
• HIS2219 Oral History and Memory
• HIS2234 Atlantic Slave Trade, 1450-1870
• HIS2235 The Soviet Experiment: 1917-1991
• HIS2238 Disease in Society in England ca.1700-1900 Responses, Representations and Experiences
• LAS2030 Comparative History of Hispano-America and Brazil: from Independence to the Mexican Revolution (1789/1810-1917)

Archaeology modules:

• ARA2001 Archaeological Theory and Interpretation
• ARA2004 Environmental Archaeology
• ARA2011 Later European Prehistory
• ARA2016 Archaeologies of Greece
• ARA2091 Archaeologies of the Roman Empire: the Roman World from Augustus to Justinian
• ARA2101 Artefacts
• ARA2080 The Archaeology of Medieval Europe: AD 400-1500

Other modules

• MCH2997 Our Visual Past: Ancient Rock Art in the UK and Internationally
• NCL2100 Developing Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Employability

At the end of Stage 2 you complete a further two weeks of fieldwork.

You choose one of the following compulsory modules:

• ARA3001 Dissertation in Archaeology
• ARA3003 Dissertation in Archaeology and History
• HIS3020 Writing History

You choose four modules from the lists below. You must select at least one module from History and one from Archaeology.

History modules:

• HIS3035 Elizabeth I: the Politics of Religion
• HIS3131 China in Revolution
• HIS3134 The Great Patriotic War and its Aftermath
• HIS3135 The Nazi New Order in Europe
• HIS3203 Madness, Nerves and Narratives in Georgian Britain, c.1714-1830
• HIS3206 The Irish Revolution, 1879-1923
• HIS3218 Hogarth! The Artist and his Life in Georgian London, 1697-1764
• HIS3219 Living Together: Christians, Muslims and Jews in Medieval Iberia
• HIS3240 Civil Rights in America, 1948-1975
• HIS3278 England 1714-1820: Birth of a Consumer Society
• HIS3326 Women in Colonial South Asia: Tradition, Reform and Modernity
• HIS3321 Viking-Age Scandinavia
• HIS3328 Imagined Futures
• HIS3138 Art of Empires, 1750-1850
• HIS3181 The American Civil War, 1861-1865
• HIS3204 The English Revolution 1640-1660
• HIS3205 Fascism in Italy, 1914-1945
• HIS3212 Reconstruction and the New South, 1865-1914
• HIS3222 Jarrow Crusade
• HIS3227 Latin America Through the Foreign Gaze
• HIS3229 The Spanish Second Republic and Civil War, 1931-1939
• HIS3279 Popular Politics and Reform in Britain, 1811-1850
• HIS3283 The Russian Revolution
• HIS3295 Royal Portraits: Christian Kings and Kingship, c.870-c.930
• HIS3322 Aspects of Nineteenth Century British History
• HIS3330 New: Middle East/Ottoman Empire

Archaeology modules:

• ARA3004 Geoarchaeology
• ARA3013 Early Medieval Northern Europe
• ARA3016 The Archaeology of Byzantium and its Neighbours
• ARA3021 Frontier Communities of Roman Britain
• ARA3031 Historical Archaeology of Britain 1500-Present
• ARA3114 Regionality and the Fall of Rome
• ARA3100 The Rise of the Middle Sea: An archaeological voyage across the prehistoric Mediterranean
• ARA3025 Social Prehistory of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age

Other modules:

• NCL3007 Career Development for Final Year Students
• HIS3000 Reading History
• HIS3030 History and Society

Archaeology students enter a wide range of careers. The graduate job market includes careers in:

• finance
• marketing
• administration
• the media
• management
• teaching

and is as open to archaeologists as to any other graduates. Employers appreciate the combination of transferable skills which our degrees give you.

Some of our students continue as professional archaeologists or historians with organisations such as English Heritage, or within public and private museums and local authority planning offices.

Postgraduate courses cater for those wishing to specialise in various types of archaeological or historical work and these include opportunities for professional training and study in museum and heritage work.

In addition, many graduates volunteer in museums or on excavations in the UK or abroad to increase their practical experience before taking up permanent employment.

Other archaeology graduates use their skills and expertise as, for example, company archivists, information technologists, specialist librarians and researchers, and in a variety of industries including publishing, broadcasting and public relations.

Find out more about the career options for History and Archaeology from Prospects: The UK's Official Careers Website.