MSc in Skeletal and Dental Bioarchaeology

Enquiries: Simon Hillson (co-ordinator)
Other Major Contributors: Tony Waldron, Daniel Antoine

This degree gives students a detailed background in the methods used to study bones and teeth in archaeology and physical anthropology. It provides a grounding in skeletal and dental anatomy, as well as an understanding of the histology of dental and skeletal tissues, morphological variations, and changes with age and/or sex. The degree also considers diseases that can be diagnosed from bones and teeth and the palaeoepidemiological insights we can draw from them. Students will learn procedures for excavating skeletonised human remains along with the standards used for recording them, and will have the opportunity to apply these methods to a small group of previously excavated skeletons and write a basic report. The degree focuses on the remains of Late Pleistocene and Holocene hominids (particularly anatomically moderns humans, but including Neanderthals). There are no formal pre-requisites for students taking this course. This degree has strong links with the MSc in Forensic Archaeological Science which gives individual courses an interesting mix of participants and provides many opportunities for discussion.

Application Deadlines: There is no specific deadline for applications, but this course can fill up quickly so please submit an application as early as possible, for example by the end of March. However, it is still worth applying after this date as numbers and timings of applications can vary. If you have any queries please contact Lisa Daniel (l.daniel@ucl.ac.uk ) for further advise.   If the course is full you will be considered for a place on the waiting list for entry in 2009/10. If you are offered a place on this waiting list but a place does not then become available for 2009-10, you will have a guaranteed place for 2010/11.

Students take four core courses, choose one option course and complete a 15,000 word dissertation. Teaching is carried out over a full academic year, although it is possible to take the course part-time over two years.

Core Courses - All students must take the following:

• Morphology and Palaeopathology of the Human Skeleton (G143, half element, 11 weeks)
• Variation and Evolution of the Human Skull (G144, half element, 11 weeks)
• Dental Anthropology (G145, half element, 11 weeks)
• Methodology and Issues in Bioarchaeology and Palaeoepidemiology (G146, half element, 11 weeks)

Option Courses - Students take further option courses to the value of one whole element, which may be chosen from the following list or from the wider range of Masters course options available at the UCL Institute of Archaeology (subject to the approval of the degree co-ordinator). Please note that some core courses are normally only available to those enroled for the degree in question. If you wish to take a core course from another degree as an option certain restrictions may apply. Please consult the relevant course co-ordinator before making your options choice.

Dissertation - All students undertake an independent research project and write a dissertation (15,000 words) over a period of about 4 months. Students are allocated a Supervisor to provide guidance during the dissertation research.

Examples of past topics include:

• degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine in population groups from Sudan
• non-metric osteological traits (e.g. mandibular tori) and their relevance for bioarchaeology
• a study of migration patterns in Roman Britain using multivariate cranial analysis
• the epidemiology of gout in eighteenth-century London
• osteopenia and osteoporosis in archaeological material
• the study of tooth development such as molar crown formation and its archaeological implications
• the osteological evidence for the mercury treatment of syphilis in 17th to 19th century London

Facilities and Staff

The Institute of Archaeology provides a stimulating environment for postgraduate study, with over 240 registered Masters students and 120 MPhil/PhD students - see for further details. Its outstanding archaeological library is complemented by University College London's main library, University of London Senate House and other specialist libraries.

Most lectures will take place at the Royal college of Surgeons and students have access to their teaching collections and museums, including the Wellcome Museum of Anatomy and Pathology. At the Institute itself students benefit from access to extensive skeletal, dental and pathology reference collections (including several complete archaeological skeletons); ageing, sexing and measuring aids; a wet chemistry laboratory; a thin sectioning and hard tissues laboratory, and facilties for transmitted light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray radiography.

The teaching staff for this degree bring together a range and depth of expertise that is arguably unparalleled at other institutions.

• Simon Hillson's main interest is in the biology of humans and other mammals in the past. Bones make up the majority of archaeological evidence for this, but he has focused particularly on teeth, because they survive well in archaeological contexts and yield a much greater amount of information. He is the author of several important osteoarchaeological books, including most recently a revised manual on archaeological approaches to Teeth.
• Tony Waldron comes from a medical background and has extensive expertise in palaeopathology and palaeoepidemiology. He has analyzed the skeletal remains from numerous archaeological excavations and most recently revised his well-known manual on Palaeoepidemiology.
• Daniel Antoine's work is in bioarchaeology and palaeopathology. He has been developing new methods to investigate child health and development in the past using dental tissues as indicators of age, health, growth and development. He is also interested in past epidemics such as the Black Death and the Great Famine.

Other staff at the Institute with expertise in particular techniques or topics also contribute to our degree programme, and at a larger scale, the significant number of other UCL departments engaged in related subjects provides an exciting context for inter-disciplinary cooperation.

Funding Opportunities

While you are here

After you leave

The information contained on this website is believed to be correct at the time of publication, but no guarantee can be given that it will not be amended before the commencement of, or during, the degree programmes to which it refers.

Please note also that not all options are available every session.

This page last modified 5 March, 2009 by [IoA Webmaster]