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DepartmentOfArchaeology.

WorldArchaeology.Made inSheffield.Postgraduate Courses

Why choose Sheffield? 1

About our department 1

What a postgraduate course can offer you 2

Postgraduate community 2

University facilities 3

Fieldwork and work placements 3

Taught Masters 4

Research degrees (PhD) 6

Applications 8

97% overall satisfaction with teaching

100% satisfaction with course curriculum

National Student Survey 2013

Why choose the University of Sheffield?For the archaeologist, Sheffield is the birthplace of the industrial revolution situated in a landscape of prehistory.

We offer one of the largest portfolios of postgraduate taught archaeology degrees of any UK University, and we boast one of the largest postgraduate communities in the country.

We play a leading role in the development of the subject as a modern discipline. Our philosophy is to develop archaeological research by drawing upon the integrated strengths of the humanities, and the natural and physical sciences in an interdisciplinary manner.

About our departmentThe Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield is one of the largest in Europe with nineteen permanent academic staff. Our research interests are global, and range from early hominids and the Palaeolithic to the early modern world.

At Sheffield you’ll discover a climate of academic excellence, innovative teaching, and world-class research.

Our research programmes involve collaboration with colleagues in the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, and they cover issues from human evolution, the origins of agriculture, the growth of empires, the European Reformation to the beginnings of industrialisation.

Ours is a truly international study environment, in the heart of one of the best student cities in the UK.

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What a postgraduate course can offer youAll of our postgraduate courses will deepen your knowledge and understanding of your chosen topic as well as equip you with skills for employment with research, educational or commercial organisations.

Out taught courses are also excellent preparation for a PhD and a research career. Our PhDs allow you to become an expert in your chosen discipline, significantly contributing to scholarly debates.

Postgraduate communityAt Sheffield you will join a vibrant academic community that is informal, friendly and supportive.

Our postgraduate students form an important and integral part of our vibrant academic community that exists within the department. Students participate within the seminars and conferences which occur throughout the year, and are responsible for organising their own weekly lunchtime lecture series which provides a forum for students to air and discuss their own ideas, and to hear talks from invited speakers drawn from our departmental staff and other universities.

The dynamism of Sheffield’s research culture is manifested in Assemblage; an internationally recognised and peer reviewed online journal that is edited and managed by our postgraduate students.

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University facilitiesWe provide a first class learning environment equipped with specialist laboratory facilities, excellent resources and dedicated study spaces. The department is also home to an extensive bone reference collection consisting of more than 1000 animal and human specimens.

The University has invested £1.5million in a new Graduate Research Centre, which provides a dedicated work space for postgraduate research students, 7 days a week.

Fieldwork and work placementsSeveral modules at Postgraduate level offer hands-on fieldwork. We offer a week long programme of field visits to archaeological sites of different periods in North and South Yorkshire and to the City of York (Research Methods in Archaeology) and a ten day field course typically based in the Lake District or North Wales (Landscape Survey Project).

Several of our MA courses offer a 60 credit work placement of approximately 8 weeks duration over the summer. This allows you to work alongside practitioners ‘in the field’, and gain hands-on experience in a subject/technique of particular interest to you. These placements will enhance your employability and develop many transferable skills. Work placements can be completed on departmental field projects (in a role related to your degree subject), with one of our commercial partners or within archives, museums or HERs.

“ I decided to study in Sheffield because I had heard amazing reviews of the University and the city. The Archaeology Department has a great reputation for all of its postgraduate programmes, which was important to me as I wanted to know I was attending a top institution.” Alison Atkin, MSc Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology

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Taught MastersWe offer one of the largest portfolios of any UK university, with teaching directly influenced by the current research of our academic staff. All taught courses offer excellent preparation for a PhD and a research career. Our courses are characterised by flexibility and choice and you’ll have the opportunity to pursue your own interests through a range of optional modules.

MA Aegean Archaeology*Provides advanced training in theories of Aegean archaeology, drawing heavily on wide- ranging research in the home of the largest group of Aegean pre-historians in the UK.

MA Archaeology * 0 ᴼOffers the widest perspective possible on the diversity of human history at a world scale; archaeology from the first principles.

MA Archaeology of the Classical Mediterranean *Extending your understanding of the early history of the Mediterranean, specialising in classical antiquity or the Bronze Age-Early Iron Age.

MA Classical and Ancient World *Bringing together experts in the history, archaeology, religion, philosophy and literature of the ancient, classical and late-antique Mediterranean world.

MA Cultural Heritage ManagementTaught between the Management School and the Department of Archaeology, this course provides vocational training for a career in cultural heritage industries.

MA Landscape Archaeology * ᴼDraws on the experience our staff have accumulated in their research on landscapes and environments across the world – from Anglesey to Armenia

MA Material Culture Studies * ᴼ Provides you with the knowledge and skills to carry out investigations of the material dimensions of human life, emphasising a hands-on approach.

MA Medieval Archaeology *Examines European societies from the end of the classical period to the early modern period, studying the relationship between material culture and texts.

MSc Archaeological Materials *Designed to deepen knowledge in the relationship between technological processes, material culture and past humanity.

MSc Experimental Archaeology *Combining practical engagement with materials and process, this programme enables you to explore (and to create) future directions for experimental archaeology.

MSc Osteoarchaeology *Combining the study of human and animal bones from archaeological sites, with specialisms in both areas.

MSc Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomy *Delivering intensive training in environmental and economic archaeology and understanding how these can advance our understanding of the relationship between people and nature in the making of human history.

MSc Human Osteology and Funerary ArchaeologyProviding advanced training in the archaeological study of human bones and the cultural understanding of funerary practices to situate findings in an archaeological and historical context.

MSc Palaeoanthropology *Combining Palaeolithic archaeology, biological anthropology, human and comparative anatomy, primatology and hominid palaeontology.

DurationFull time: One year Part time: Two years

(ALL * AVAILABLE PART TIME)

(All 0 offer dissertation or work/field placement option)

If you study part- time you’ll attend two days per week and we’ll try to be as flexible as possible to meet your needs.

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All taught courses offer excellent preparation for a PhD

“ I chose to study at the University of Sheffield during the third year of my undergraduate at the University of North Carolina. I decided to return to England for my post-graduate and cannot imagine having spent my year anywhere else.

Sheffield has a large international student population, from over 120 countries and I have made friends from all over the world. I felt at home here, welcomed by the university and the people who have decided to make Sheffield their home. It’s one of the best places in the world!”Katlin Barnes, MA Material Culture Studies

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Research degrees (PhD)Our department is home to a thriving graduate research community, with students investigating a diverse array of topics, from human origins to the industrial revolution.

We are a large department involved in research projects throughout the UK, Europe and beyond, and can provide research supervision across a broad range of archaeological subjects and methods.

Typical Duration Full-time: three years Part-time: six years

AssessmentYou’ll complete a thesis (75,000 words) on a research topic of your choice and attend a viva examination.

Supervision and SupportYou will be assigned an academic supervisor whose research interests are closely related to your own. They will guide you through your research project and help you assess your progress.

Areas of StudyA PhD can be undertaken in any research area supported by our academic staff. Full details of academic research interests can be found online: www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/people/academic

Your PhDWe have ranked amongst the top ten UK archaeology departments in every Research Assessment Exercise since 1992.

Our degrees help you develop your research skills and add to existing knowledge, becoming an expert in your chosen discipline.

Your completed PhD will form an original piece of research, which makes a significant contribution to scholarly debates.

We are happy to help you formulate your research proposal once you’ve written a clear project outline.

If you would like to discuss your ideas or need more information, please contact us.

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Academic Staff and areas of PhD Supervision

Dr Umberto Albarella – Zooarchaeology; domestication and husbandry improvements, hunting strategies, animals as indicators of wealth and status, and ritual uses

Dr Gianna Ayala – Geoarchaeology; landscape archaeology; European prehistory

Professor John Bennet – The archaeology of complex societies (particularly the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures of the Bronze Age Aegean); the archaeology and history of Crete; early writing and administrative systems

Professor Maureen Carroll – Roman burial practices; Roman funerary commemoration; Roman family and childhood studies; the archaeology and history of Graeco-Roman gardens

Dr Elizabeth Craig-Atkins – Analysis of osteological and funerary data; funerary practices in early Christian England; health and social status in past populations; the archaeology of childhood

Dr Peter Day – Material culture; technology of ceramics; ethnographies of craft and the archaeology of the Aegean and the application of analytical techniques to the study of ancient materials

Dr Roger Doonan – Archaeometallurgy; social theory and technology; craft production in the Mediterranean; experimental archaeology; aspects of Eurasian archaeology

Professor Dawn Hadley – Anglo-Saxon or medieval funerary archaeology; the impact of the Vikings on Britain; archaeology of childhood; the archaeology of nineteenth-century working-class communities

Professor Paul Halstead – Neolithic communities in SE Europe; Farming in prehistoric or classical Mediterranean; Ethnoarchaeology of ‘traditional’ land use; Pastoralism; animal domestication Dr Katie Hemer – Early medieval western Britain and Ireland; funerary archaeology; disease and physical impairment in the past; the archaeology of childhood

Dr Caroline Jackson – Material culture in the Roman world; the analysis of glasses to explore production and consumption patterns; experimental archaeology

Dr Bob Johnston – Landscape archaeology; Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology of Britain and Ireland; social/cultural aspects of later prehistoric agriculture; the archaeology of highlands, uplands

Professor Glynis Jones – The origins and spread of agriculture; the investigation of crop domestication and spread through DNA analysis, the role of crop cultivation in the Neolithic to Iron Age

Dr Kevin Kuykendall – Evolution of early hominid life history; origin of Homo sapiens in Africa; evolution and variation of paranasal sinuses in primates; hominoid dental development

Professor John Moreland – The use of writing/images in past societies; the archaeology and history of South Yorkshire from Antiquity to the Reformation; the archaeology of belief

Dr Pia Nystrom – Growth and development from a comparative primate perspective; diet, health and well-being in past human populations; skeletal pathology in non-human primates

Dr Jane Rempel – Greek colonisation; Greek ethnicity and identity; the Hellenistic East; funerary commemoration in the Greek world; the Black Sea in the Classical and Hellenistic periods

Dr Susan Sherratt – Bronze and Early Iron Ages of the Aegean, Cyprus and the wider eastern Mediterranean; combining Homeric epics and the archaeological record

Dr Hugh Willmott – Later medieval and early modern Europe; historical material culture; the archaeology of monasticism and the Dissolution of the monasteries

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ApplicationsTaught MastersEntry Requirements:

First or 2:1 honours degree in a relevant subject

Equivalent qualifications (including experience in relevant field) may be considered.

For applicants whose first language is not English, IELTS is the preferred test of language.

Research Degree (PhD)Entry Requirements:

A strong Masters qualification in a relevant subject area.

Non-native English speakers will also need to provide evidence of their English language ability.

Our department require a research proposal and a personal statement, each of max 1,000 words. When you are creating your research proposal, please consider the following questions:

• What subject are you interested in?

• Which body of data do you intend to work on, and how accessible is it?

• Will you need to undertake fieldwork to retrieve data, and, if so, where?

• Who in Sheffield might be able to supervise this project?

• What previous experience do you have of your proposed area of research?

We are happy to help you formulate your research proposal, but a clear outline from you will help us do so. If you would like additional help before submitting your research application form please contact us (archaeology@sheffield.ac.uk).

If you wish to undertake a programme of research (PhD) in our department you should also contact in advance the member of staff you would like to work with. Ideally your research proposal should be a collaborative effort with your potential supervisor(s) [max two], whose name(s) you should also indicate in your application form.

You can apply for postgraduate courses using our Online Application Form available online: www.shef.ac.uk/postgradapplication

If you do not have regular internet access and would prefer to apply using a paper application form, please contact Admissions to request one. If you have questions about our programmes, or need advice before you apply, please contact us.

Please note that although we accept applications for postgraduate programmes at any time, if you wish to apply for funding (AHRC or University and Faculty Scholarships) you must apply for a place and submit your funding application before the funding deadlines.

How to contact usIf you have any questions about our degrees or applying to study with us please get in touch:

Department of Archaeology The University of Sheffield Northgate House West Street Sheffield S1 4ET United Kingdom

T: +44 (0) 114 222 2900

E: archaeology@sheffield.ac.uk

W: www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology

ArchaeologySheffield

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Every effort is made to ensure the information in our publications is accurate. However, modules, courses and course requirements are subject to continual review. There may be changes made between the date of publication and the start of your course. For the latest information, see the department web pages, or contact the department direct.

Copyright © 2014 The University of Sheffield

With thanks to Emma Hutchin, On-Campus Placement