Higher Archaeological Practice (MSc) drafted

Program Overview

This vocational master’s degree will prepare you for a career in commercial archaeology. Through hands-on experience you’ll gain the skills to plan and run archaeological projects, from survey and excavation to analysis and reporting. You’ll apply your learning by spending 4 weeks on professional placement.

We’re ranked Top 30 in the world for archaeology (QS World University Rankings, 2019).

Your specialist archaeological practice learning will cover:

Beyond your specialist modules you can personalise this degree to your areas of interest.

We bring expertise together from across the University, including Medicine, Humanities, the National Oceanography Centre, Engineering and Winchester School of Art, to help you gain both scientific skills and cultural understanding through a range of optional modules.

This is a very practical degree. You’ll have full access to a wide range of dedicated facilities and specialist teachers to develop your practical skills. These include:

You can develop your practical skills further when you take part in a 3-day field trip to the West Devon and Cornwall World Heritage Site. Here you’ll conduct an environmental impact assessment using geographical information systems, computer-aided design and remote sensing.

We have relationships with a number of leading heritage institutions and companies. You’ll spend 4 weeks on placement with one of these institutions, where you’ll gain valuable real-world experience of the archaeology sector and heritage industry. Previous placements have included Historic England, Wessex Archaeology and The Nautical Archaeology Society.

In addition to your vocational training you'll develop advanced research skills. For your dissertation you’ll undertake original research on a topic that you choose. There's the possibility that this work will be published.

Southampton is close to the World Heritage sites of Stonehenge and Avebury and we have research projects engaged with both sites, as well as a range of other archaeological projects across the globe.

Flexible study

If you prefer, you can apply to study this course as:

Your modules and fees may vary if you choose a different study option.

Course lead

Professor Joanna Sofaer (FSA, PFHEA) is Professor of Archaeology, Co-Director of the

Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities

Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA)

Director of Archaeology for the Creative Industries

Bronze Age tell settlement at Százhalombatta, Hungary

For more information view

Professor Joanna Sofaer staff profile

Related pathways

If you’d prefer a less specialised archaeology master’s degree, or you’d like to focus on a different specialism, you can choose from our 3 other Archaeology MSc pathways. When you join us you’ll have 2 weeks in which you can change pathway if you wish.

Your other Archaeology MSc pathway options are:

Program Outline

Your studies will run for a full year, from September to the following September.

If you’d like to take longer to complete this master’s you can study part-time over 2 to 5 years.

If you decide that you’d like to change to a different archaeology specialism within the first 2 weeks of term you’ll be able to change your degree.

Throughout your studies, we’ll encourage you to engage with the wider research community through attending and presenting at seminars, workshops or conferences. In the summer you’ll focus on your personal research project, which you’ll complete with guidance from a personal supervisor.

What you'll study:

You'll take 2 compulsory modules that focus on specialist archaeological project management knowledge and placement experience.

Alongside your compulsory specialist modules, you can choose modules from the full range of available archaeology modules. You can also:

Each module requires at least 150 hours of study time. As a full-time student you’re likely to be on campus up to 4 days a week.

Want more detail?

See all the modules in the course.