Sections
Archaeological Sciences | Heritage Studies | World Archaeology
Regions
Africa | Americas | Britain | Central Asia | China | Egypt | Europe | Greek | India | Islamic | London | Mediterranean | Middle East | Pacific | Roman | Turkey
Time Periods
Palaeolithic | Neolithic | Bronze Age | Iron Age | Classical | Medieval | Modern
Techniques, subjects and themes
Agriculture | Archaeobotany | Archaeological Survey | Archaeological Theory | Art History | Artefact Analysis | Audio-visual media | Biological Anthropology | Buildings | Community Archaeology | Conflict Archaeology | Conservation | Cultural Heritage | Dendrochronology | Empires | Environment & Climate | Evolutionary Theory | Experimental | Field | Forensic | Geoarchaeology | GIS | History of Archaeology | Human Evolution | Hunting & Herding | Landscape | Lithic Analysis | Maritime | Materials Analysis | Mathematical Modelling | Museum Studies | Photography | Production & Exchange | Public Archaeology | Public Engagement | Ritual & Religion | Site Management | States & Urbanism | Statistical Analysis | Zooarchaeology
Archaeological Theory
The interpretation of the archaeological record is a challenging enterprise that requires the use of a wide range of theoretical frameworks. In order to understand human action in the past from fragmentary remains in the present, archaeologists draw upon insights from many disciplines in the natural and social sciences. At the same time, archaeologists can offer a distinctive perspective on theoretical problems in other disciplines by drawing on the great time-depth and cultural diversity that they study. Key topics include human interaction with material culture, social change and evolution, landscape and use of space, religion and ritual, and art.
Research
Projects
- Art History and Social Theory
- Computational Modelling and Human Use of Space
- Cultural Evolution of Neolithic Europe (EUROEVOL)
- Interpretive and Evolutionary Archaeologies
- Macroevolutionary Patterning in Technological Evolution
- ORACEAF: The Origins of the Acheulean in East Africa
Networks
- AG Forschungsgeschichte/History of Archaeology (external network)
- Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neolithikum/Neolithic Workgroup (external network)
- An Ethnography of Archaeology (IoA network)
- Theorie AG - Arbeitsgemeinschaft Theorie (external network)
- TOPOI: The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilisations (external network)
Centres
People
- Mark Altaweel
- Andrew Bevan
- Richard Bussmann
- Enrico Crema
- Dorian Fuller
- Andrew Gardner
- Sue Hamilton
- Rodney Harrison
- Mark Lake
- Kevin MacDonald
- Louise Martin
- Gabriel Moshenska
- Corinna Riva
- Stephen Shennan
- Bill Sillar
- Jeremy Tanner
- David Wengrow
- Todd Whitelaw
- Katherine Wright
Degrees
- BA in Archaeology and Anthropology
- BA or BSc in Archaeology
- BA in Classical Archaeology and Classical Civilisation
- BA in Egyptian Archaeology
- MA in Archaeology
- MA in Archaeology of the Mediterranean and the Middle East
- MA in Archaeology of the Middle East
- MA in Egyptian Archaeology
- MA in Managing Archaeological Sites
- MA in Mediterranean Archaeology
- MA in Public Archaeology
- MA in Research Methods for Archaeology
- MA in Urban Archaeology
Courses
undergraduate
- World Archaeology: the deep history of human societies (formerly Past Societies)
- World Archaeology: evolutionary origins to the earliest states
- World Archaeology: from early states to globalization
- Interdisciplinary approaches to archaeological problems
- Introduction to social anthropology
- Texts in archaeology
- Sites and Artefacts
- People and Environments
- World Archaeology: an outline of the deep history of human societies (for BA Arch & Anth students only)
- Current issues in archaeological theory
- Interpreting archaeological evidence
- Theory and Method for the Archaeology of the Ancient World
graduate
- Pattern and Process in the Archaeology of the Middle East
- Cities, States and Religions in Ancient India
- Themes, Thought and Theory in World Archaeology: Foundations
- Themes, Thought and Theory in World Archaeology: Current Topics
- Themes in Urban Archaeology
- Mediterranean Dynamics
- Mediterranean Prehistory
