MA (Hons) Ancient History & Archaeology

at University of St Andrews

Modules
In the first two years of your degree (known as sub-honours), archaeology is taught in two ways: as an integral part of understanding ancient societies, in modules shared with the ancient history programme, and in a specialised module that introduces the key archaeological concepts, methodologies, and techniques. 

Find out more about the modular Scottish degree system.

First year
Students will take the following compulsory first-year modules:

• The Greeks in a Wider World: surveys Greek history from the origins of the Greek city-states in the Archaic period (ca. 800 BCE), through the heyday of Athens’ empire and democracy in the fifth century and the struggle for supremacy among the Greek cities in the fourth, to Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire. Alongside political and military history, the module tackles topics such as religious belief, slavery, and Greek interactions with other peoples of the ancient Mediterranean world. 
• Rome and the Mediterranean: traces Rome’s trajectory from a small settlement in central Italy to the centre of a Mediterranean empire. The module examines a wide range of topics, including politics, the family, religion, slavery, poverty and the economy. It exposes the links between the growth of Rome’s power abroad and the transformation and eventual collapse of its Republican government at home and the rise of the first emperor, Augustus.

Second year

You will take the following second-year ancient history modules, but may take second-year Classical Studies modules instead:

• The Roman Empire: explores the complex history of the Roman Empire from Augustus to Late Antiquity, an empire which, for the first and last time, united the whole Mediterranean and its diverse hinterlands. The history and archaeology of the empire are studied through the themes such as power, society, cultures, the army and the frontiers, cities, economies, and religions. How did an ever-changing imperial monarchy oversee a relatively stable, slave-owning domain? What powers of coercion and persuasion did Rome exert? How was Rome and its empire culturally transformed over the centuries?
• Mediterranean Communities: examines the history and archaeology of human settlement in the Mediterranean world throughout the whole of classical antiquity. In the course of the first millennium BCE and the first half of the first millennium CE (ca. 1000 BCE to 500 CE), the Mediterranean was transformed from a world of tiny peasant and tribal communities to a world of complexly connected cities, states and empires. This module brings together themes of ecology, economy, urbanism, networks and the state to ask big questions about how and why classical civilisation emerged when and where it did.

These grades are the overall standards required to consider you for entry. Find out more about Standard, Minimum and Gateway entry requirements using academic entry explained and see which entry requirements you need to look at using the entry requirements indicator.

• Home-funded  -  £1820
• RUK (England, Wales, Northern Ireland) and Republic of Ireland  -  £9250
• Islands (Channel Islands, Isle of Man)  -  £9250
• EU and overseas  -  £26350

Archaeology courses at St Andrews do not provide the full training in British archaeology appropriate for someone set on working in professional or commercial archaeology in the UK. Nevertheless, recent graduates have gone on to work as professional archaeologists while others have taken professional qualifications in museum studies.