MA Archaeology (Prehistory)

Overview

It was the prehistoric period that laid the foundations of modern society through a series of dramatic and far-reaching changes: the development of modern humans, the adoption and spread of agriculture, and the first use of metals. This is one of the areas of archaeology that has seen the most exciting advances over the past 30 years, with the introduction of new scientific techniques and new theoretical approaches. These recent developments are highlighted in the MA prehistory modules that are offered at Durham, and this programme provides an up-to-date education in prehistoric knowledge and research.

Facts

Find out more about entry requirements, mode of study, duration of the course, and tuition fees here. (Note: this link will direct you to the University's central course tool. Use the link provided to return to the Department of Archaeology homepage.)

Find out more about funding your programme here.

Programme structure: Specialist Route (1), Specialist Route (2), Research Training Route (3), Research training Route (4). See below for more details.

How will I be taught?

The MA in Archaeology courses are composed of several modules: Research and Study Skills in Social Archaeology (RSS), combinations of a Research Topic module related to your strand (either single or double), a Selected Module from those on offer elsewhere in the Department, a Guided Study module and a dissertation.

Part-time students are expected to complete the course in 2 years. The choice of modules for each year should be made in consultation with the Strand Convenor. It is usually expected that part-time students will complete RSS in the first year and the dissertation in the second year.

RSS is taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, practicals and one field trip.

In addition, you will take the Research Topic module and choose one or two topics depending on whether you are taking a single or double module. Teaching is undertaken through a series of lectures and tutorials.

What will I be studying?

Research Topics offered in the Prehistory Strand (subject to availability):

• Palaeolithic Cave Art (Professor Paul Pettitt)
• Palaeolithic Britain in Context (Dr Mark White)
• Hunting and Gathering (Dr Peter Rowley-Conwy)
• Neolithic Monuments in Atlantic Europe (Professor Chris Scarre)
• Households and Society in Balkan Prehistory (Professor John Chapman)
• Bronze Age Britain in a European context (Dr Benjamin Roberts)
• Prehistory of the Central Mediterranean (Dr Robin Skeates)
• Celts, Sacrifice and Drink in Iron Age Britain (Dr Tom Moore)

In certain circumstances it may also be possible to take the following:

• People and Environment in the North Atlantic (Dr Mike Church)

Selected Modules open to students taking the Prehistory Strand (subject to availability):

Landscape Archaeology of the Near East; Animals and People; Plants and People; Digital Mapping and Spatial Analysis; Theory and Method in Landscape Archaeology; Biomolecular Archaeology and Anthropology.

The Guided Study module is based exclusively on tutorials and seminars, and allows students to follow a detailed and specialised course of study in their specified area. It facilitates the provision of intensive teaching of specified geographical areas and/or topics, which will provide vital preparation for research.

Dissertation: All strands of the MA in Archaeology programme require a triple-module dissertation of up to 20,000 words.

Who will teach me?

All academic staff members teaching on this MA strand have active research interests which combine a regional or period focus with strong theoretical perspectives or applied scientific methods. They provide complementary skills and expertise both in terms of region and period and in subject matter and approach, which includes the study of artefacts, palaeoenvironments, prehistoric structures and rock art. A number of them also have current fieldwork projects which relate directly to their core research interests, and which provide further opportunities for MA students to gain first-hand knowledge of the material.

Prof John Chapman specialises in the later prehistoric archaeology of Southeast Europe and is particularly well-known for his work on the fragmentation of material culture in Mesolithic, Neolithic and Copper Age societies in the Balkans.

Dr Tom Moore specialises in the Iron Age of Britain and France, particularly the late Iron Age-Roman transition, and is currently using survey and excavation to investigate the immediate environs of the late La Tène oppidum at Bibracte in Burgundy.

Prof Paul Pettitt is a specialist in the European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, with research interests in the origins and nature of Palaeolithic art and mortuary activity, chronometry, and the British later Palaeolithic.

Dr Ben Roberts specialises in the objects, technologies and societies found in northwest and southeast Europe from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age. He is currently collaborating on a major AHRC funded project The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia, an international and interdisciplinary project exploring copper production sites in Serbia which have produced the earliest evidence for metallurgy in the world. He is also involved with numerous smaller projects in Britain ranging from Beaker settlements to Bronze Age shipwrecks to Late Iron Age hoards.

Prof Peter Rowley-Conwy is a expert on the Mesolithic of Denmark and southern Sweden, is involved in the current investigations by the Vale of Pickering Research Trust near the world-famous site of Star Carr, and has recently completed a book on the Three Age System and its contested reception in the British Isles.

Prof Chris Scarre is interested in the prehistory of Atlantic Europe and the materiality of megalithic monuments, their relationship to landscape, and the use of coloured materials in their construction, backed up by excavations and field studies in France and Portugal.

Dr Robin Skeates is a specialist on the prehistoric archaeology of Italy and the Central Mediterranean region, exploring a wide variety of themes within the overlapping inter-disciplinary fields of material culture, visual culture, museum and heritage studies.

Dr Mark White specialises in the Palaeolithic of Britain and is a core member of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project, a major multi-disciplinary undertaking funded by the Leverhulme Trust which aims to examine the settlement history and environmental background of 800,000 years of human occupation of the British Isles.

What is my next step?

For further information on applying for the MA in Archaeology (Prehistory), please visit How to Apply.

All Home/EU applicants offered a place on the MA in Archaeology (Prehistory) course will be asked to pay a £500 deposit by 1 April 2013. For offers made by the Department after 1 April 2013, each applicant will have 4 weeks to pay the £500 deposit from the official offer letter. This £500 deposit will be deducted from the first instalment of fees after starting the course in September 2013. Please note, that this £500 deposit will only be refunded in the event of the applicant not meeting their conditions set out in the official offer letter.

All Overseas applicants offered a place on the MA in Archaeology (Prehistory) course will be asked to pay a £1000 deposit no later than 6 weeks following any official offer emailed letter. Please note, that this £1000 deposit will only be refunded in the event of the applicant failing to meet their conditions set out in the official offer letter or refusal of a visa for entry to the UK. Please ensure that you read this information concerning the deposit.

This £1000 deposit will be deducted from the first instalment of fees after starting the course in September 2013.