Archaeological Science

Cutting-edge developments in science are increasingly applied to help answer questions at the heart of archaeology. How can we reconstruct ancient diets and climate using isotopes? What can materials analysis tell us about the ancient trade and exchange systems? How can genetics help us understand ancient and modern societies?

The MPhil in Archaeological Science is a relatively new programme, admitting students for October. Exceptional in its breadth and interdisciplinary crossovers, it will allow you to learn theories and methods within the fields of materials analysis, geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, proteomics, genomics, computational archaeology, and isotopic and molecular archaeology.

Supported by our world-class expertise and facilities, this programme will train you in the research skills necessary to design and carry out your own independent research projects incorporating the latest scientific methods.

Themes

This MPhil programme allows you to acquire experience of an unparalleled range of themes and analytical methods. Unusually for programmes of this kind, it promotes connections between environmental archaeology and material culture studies. Some cross-cutting themes that link the different analytical approaches include:

palaeodiet and palaeoclimate reconstructions
ancient trade and exchange
life-histories of landscapes, people and things
the roles of ancient and modern archaeogenetic studies
the potential for ancient proteins in archaeology and cultural heritage
identity, knowledge transfer and mobility in society and material culture
craft organisation and technological innovations
food procurement, the origins and spread of agriculture and animal herding
taphonomy and site formation
These themes can be explored by variously integrating different approaches, including: the isotopic analyses of human and animal tissue; microscopic, chemical and isotopic analyses of artefacts and other material remains; protein and DNA analyses of biogenic samples; zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical investigations; the application of soil micromorphology to palaeosols and archaeological settlements; spatial and temporal analysis of settlement distribution.