With a rich archaeological landscape, two centuries of an archaeological community in the city and unique museum resources, Newcastle is the ideal choice for studying archaeology. Our range of taught and research postgraduate programmes reflects our expertise in later prehistory, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, medieval and historical archaeology.
In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 70–80 per cent of our research was classed as ‘internationally excellent’ or ‘internationally recognised’ with 10 –15 per cent classed as ‘world leading’. Research strengths cover three themes: landscape archaeology; material culture of historic periods; bodies and identity. We have an interdisciplinary and international approach and enjoy research collaborations with 47 universities, museums and heritage bodies in countries ranging from Turkey and South Africa to Romania and Italy. We also have 29 UK collaborations with organisations such as English Heritage and National Parks as well as universities and museums.
The University is a partner in the £26 million Great North Museum, which has brought together internationally important collections of prehistoric, Greek, Etruscan, Roman and Romano-British and medieval artefacts. The Museum represents a world-class teaching and research facility located five minutes’ walk from the School of History, Classics and Archaeology. With our new Centre for Interdisciplinary Artefact Studies we are able to introduce you to a hands-on approach to archaeological training with expert teaching in numismatics, ceramics and metallography representing particular strengths.
With the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site on our doorstep, we make full use of the rich archaeological landscape with regular study trips and fieldwork projects.
Students also have access to specialist facilities including the Gertrude Bell Archive, the Wolfson Archaeology Laboratory and the Shefton collections of Greek archaeology.
Theories and techniques from anthropology, geography, materials science and GIS are valuable parts of an archaeologist’s toolkit and are integrated into our teaching. We also offer modules in Classics, which include options in Latin and Greek at various levels (beginner to advanced), as well as modules in modern languages and heritage. All our postgraduates have access to the postgraduate common room, computer clusters and can borrow laptops for research trips. Research students also have dedicated desk and computing facilities and may be able to draw on financial support for research trips. Our lively research culture includes a full seminar programme and an annual conference.