Course summary

Archaeology offers you the opportunity to explore humanity, from its prehistoric origins to industrialisation and globalisation, and to consider key challenges of modern society - from climate change and new technologies, to gender identities, cultural interactions and conflict. Through scientific analysis and interpretation of artefacts, ancient texts and inscriptions, architecture, human remains and landscapes, our courses have the study of past people at their heart, ranging geographically from Egypt and the Near East, across the Mediterranean, to the British Isles and North-West Europe. As part of the department of Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology and Egyptology (CAHAE), the largest of its kind in the country, you will have the unparalleled opportunity to draw upon staff expertise in material culture analysis, ancient history, language and literature, social complexity, ancient writing, belief systems and funerary rites, monuments and landscapes, within your study. You'll explore artefacts, architecture and ancient texts, handling our object collections within our well-equipped laboratories, getting exclusive access to the archives and expertise of the Manchester Museum, and going on fieldtrips to awe-inspiring sites. Fieldwork training is integral to all our courses: you will have the opportunity to dig for at least four weeks, joining expert research teams across the UK, Mediterranean and the Near East, who will train you in excavation techniques. Our students have worked on sites of global importance including Stonehenge, Star Carr and Easter Island, and have uncovered everything from the earliest British Mesolithic art to a Viking boat burial in Scotland. Use our dedicated collections, laboratories, study spaces and libraries to pursue your own interests, supported by our award-winning teachers and world-leading researchers, and guest speakers from across the globe, to become part of our interdisciplinary community that is passionate about understanding the ancient world.