This course is ideal if you’re fascinated by both ancient and modern history and if you want to explore and investigate the material remains of past societies and cultures. It will allow you to get hands-on with the past and explore civilizations and societies from throughout history, in a practical and interesting way.
Studying Archaeology at BGU will take you on an amazing journey into the physical reality of the distant past, while you learn and develop as an independent student.
Courses
About Archaeology at BGU
Throughout the course we make excellent use of the unique archives and museums in the ancient city of Lincoln, which detail its 2,000 year history – from Roman foundation to industrial renaissance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
You will have the chance to study periods of history ranging from the Neolithic through to Roman and Medieval times as well as exploring contemporary archaeology. In addition to studying archaeological evidence from these different time periods, you will also explore key ideas and current issues, such as community archaeology, war and commemoration.
Not only will you gain the practical skills to undertake archaeological fieldwork, including excavation and surveying, as well as post-excavation studies but you’ll also strengthen key transferable skills, such as analysing data, assessing evidence, presenting your views and constructing arguments using critical reasoning.
You’ll be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and practical workshops, as well as fieldwork activities and site visits. As you progress through the course you will spend an increasing amount of time on independent study and personal research. A wide range of approaches is taken to assessment including written assignments and coursework, presentations, portfolios, practical assessments and a small number of exams.
Employability is important to us at BGU, and as part of the course you will have the chance to take a work-based placement at a relevant site or museum, as well as the exciting opportunity to join the annual BGU training and research excavation – where you can put into practise your newly developed skills.
What You Will Study
You will study a wide variety of modules within Archaeology which, depending on your course combination, may include some of the following:
- Medieval Europe Towns and Trade Through – a study of urban growth and trading networks you will explore the development of medieval society across Europe
- Public and Community Archaeology – gain a wide-ranging understanding of the current actions and approaches to public and community archaeology. Community outreach and education is a particular strength at BGU and this module takes full advantage of our unique expertise and networks
- Professional Contexts: Archaeological Field School – an amazing opportunity to get really involved in archaeological research through the annual BGU archaeological field school. You’ll develop key skills in surveying, excavation, finds and environmental work, while experiencing a live excavation project
Assessment
A wide-range of approaches are undertaken when it comes to assessment which include written assignments and coursework essays and reports. There are a few exams but these often include analysis of provided sources material either text or images. There are also a smaller number of oral presentations, the production of portfolios of research material and some practical assessments.
Careers and Further Study
As well as learning a number of highly practical skills, Archaeology also teaches you how to assemble and assess evidence, analyse data and present and defend your views – all of which are highly sought-after by employers upon graduation. Possible future careers for Archaeology graduates may include:
- Commercial archaeologist
- Archivist
- Researcher
- Museum education and outreach
- Editorial work or journalism
Successful graduates of this course could also continue to study for higher degrees, and even pursue further study in the field of education. Those wishing to pursue a career in primary or secondary teaching will need to take one of a variety of teacher training courses either at BGU or elsewhere, subject to separate application.
Fees and Funding
A lot of student finance information is available from numerous sources, but it is sometimes confusing and contradictory. That’s why at BGU we try to give you all the information and support we can to help to throughout the process. Our Student Advice team are experts in helping you sorting out the funding arrangements for your studies, offering a range of services to guide you through all aspects of student finance step by step. Click here to find information about fees, loans and support which will help to make the whole process a little easier to understand.
How to Apply
Undergraduate course applicants must apply via UCAS using the relevant UCAS code. The application fee is £12 for a single choice or £23 for more than one choice. For all applicants, there are full instructions at UCAS to make it as easy as possible for you to fill in your online application, plus help text where appropriate.
Year 1
- Introduction to Archaeology: Concepts and Methods
- Prehistoric and Roman Britain
- Introduction to History: Ideas, Issue and Approaches
- Late Medieval and Tudor Britain
Year 2
- Living and Dying in Medieval Europe
- Field Archaeology: People, Place and Practice
- Professional Contexts
- Archaeological Field School
- People and Place in the Past: Histories of Individuals, Families and Localities
- The Atlantic World in the 17th and 18th Centuries
- In Dialogue: Subject Studies across the Arts & Humanities
Year 3
- Material Culture in Archaeology: Theory and Practice
- Conflict Archaeology in Global Context
- History in Picture: Visual Representations of the Past
- The City in History: Global Perspectives on Urban Pasts
International Archaeological Field School
The University runs an international archaeological field school. The field school has investigated a number of sites including a five season excavation of a Roman Villa near Lincoln and Roman and medieval archaeology on actually on the BGU campus!
Students and volunteers from as far afield at the USA and Australia have participated. The next BGU excavation will be in 2015 with the field school running again in 2016. The university has a dedicated Archaeology Laboratory to support the processing, analysis and research of its finds.
Children's Archaeology Club & Summer Camp
BGU runs a summer camp for children interested in archaeology. This includes going on digs, visits to sites and creative art & craft activities. We also have a Saturday morning archaeology club which is run by past and present students. In this children have been involved in field walking, trips to sites and exploring all things archaeological.
Lincoln Archaeology Group for Excavation, Education & Research
The BGU community archaeology group is very active and made up of volunteers, students and professional archaeologists. It supports the BGU field school and also undertakes its own fieldwork and research projects. Group members also help on other local excavations and recording and survey projects. Members of the group are regularly involved in processing finds from sites and participate in various research projects.
Lincolnshire Medieval Graffiti Project
This project is supported by BGU and carried out by our community archaeology group (LAGER). The project team are undertaking a survey of all the churches in Lincolnshire and recording the vast number of often unknown examples of medieval graffiti.
Nettleham Junior School Test Pits Project
BGU staff, volunteers & students are helping a local school learn about archaeology by digging a small number of test pits in their village.
Academic Co-ordinator
Dr Craig Spence – Academic Co-ordinator and Senior Lecturer
Dr Craig Spence is both an historian and an archaeologist. He teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Heritage Studies and History. Having directed several excavations, Craig published the Archaeological Site Manual; a standard work on archaeological recording methods still used across the UK and overseas. Current research interests focus on early modern urban and cultural history and archaeological investigations in Lincoln and the local area. Craig has taught at a number of institutions including Goldsmiths’ College University of London, Royal Holloway College University of London and Syracuse University before joining Bishop Grosseteste University in 2004.
Lecturing Staff
Duncan Wright
Duncan is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, specialising in interdisciplinary studies of settlement, landscape and conflict. His work typically integrates documentary and topographic sources with archaeological evidence to reconstruct the evolution of sites and landscapes during the medieval period in particular. Duncan’s early medieval interests focus on the development of kingship, and the changing role of metalworkers detectable through the study of elite settlement complexes. He has also utilised the evidence from currently occupied settlements to trace the origins and development of the landscape, demonstrating the way in which royal and ecclesiastical authorities established their economic and ideological power.
Mick Jones
Dr Mick Jones is a Visiting Reader in Archaeology and a former part-time tutor. He spent most of his career in charge of archaeology in the city of Lincoln, as Director of the Lincoln Archaeology Unit and subsequently as City Archaeologist, a post from which he retired in 2012.
Head of School
Dr Andrew Jackson – Head of School of Humanities
Dr Andrew Jackson is the Head of the School of Humanities. Andrew is a historian and with current research interests that include twentieth-century urban and rural change, and local and regional history. He also engages in consultancy and project work relating to community history and heritage, digitisation and e-learning. Andrew joined the staff of Bishop Grosseteste University in 2007, following ten years at the University of Exeter.
Teaching
Andrew contributes to the teaching of the undergraduate subject of History, Masters programmes in Heritage Education and Community Archaeology, and the Doctoral programme in Education. Andrew’s teaching interests include: rural, urban and landscape history; local and regional history; historical and cultural geography; country houses and garden history; archives and history education; heritage and community identity; Lincolnshire’s history and heritage; and Devon history.
