Ancient History and Archaeology BA (Hons)

Birkbeck, University of London

Our BA Ancient History and Archaeology allows you to combine and pursue your interests in the history and archaeology of the ancient world. We will equip you to study the Greek and Roman past through both textual and archaeological evidence, from Greek pottery to Roman inscriptions, ancient cities to classical authors. You will acquire critical and analytical skills, utilising the full range of evidence that survives from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds.

You will study a broad chronological and geographical sweep, with topics including the rise of the Greek city-states, Classical Athens, the foundations of the Roman Empire, the transformation of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, and the Byzantine Empire from the foundation of Constantinople to the medieval period.

The study of archaeology develops the ability to understand how people lived, acted and thought in the past. You will learn the essential analytical techniques of archaeology to develop your understanding of the relationship between theory and practice in the interpretation of material remains. Practical archaeological experience is a key element of this degree.

This programme is ideal if you are interested in understanding the ancient past through people’s relationships with words, texts, objects, buildings and places. We will give you access to a wide range of textual, graphical and material evidence and develop your ability to interpret and process that data. We will also encourage you to question accepted histories, so you can construct and present convincing historical and archaeological arguments using texts, images, and material objects and remains as evidence.

Highlights

• History at Birkbeck was ranked top in the UK for intellectual stimulation in the 2019 National Student Survey and first in London for teaching quality.

• We are an international centre of excellence. Since 2001 we have consistently been in the top ten departments evaluated by the Research Excellence Framework (REF).

• Our research is unique in its range across geographical and chronological boundaries. We are the only university department in London to include historians, classicists and archaeologists investigating every period from prehistory to the early twenty-first century. We see the study of the past as crucial for our understanding of present-day society, culture and politics.

• We are at the heart of academic London with access to unparalleled research resources. Situated very close by are: the Institute of Classical Studies, with its library, training facilities and seminars; the British Museum, with its extensive collection of classical antiquities; and the British Library, the largest national library in the world.

• The Department of History, Classics and Archaeology is home to thriving student societies and a number of affiliated research centres that actively run seminars, conferences and other events where some of the world's best scholars present their latest research.