Master of Studies in Classical Archaeology

• 1. Within the Division of Social Sciences, the course shall be administered by the Committee for the School of Archaeology. The regulations made are as follows:

• 2. Candidates for admission must apply to the Committee for the School of Archaeology. They will be required to produce evidence of their appropriate qualifications for the proposed course, including their suitable proficiency in relevant ancient or modern languages.

• 3. Candidates must follow for three terms a course of instruction in Classical Archaeology.

• 4. The registration of candidates will lapse on the last day of the Trinity Term in the academic year of their admission, unless it shall have been extended by the committee.

• 5. The written examination shall comprise three subjects:

  • (a) one subject on a period selected from Schedule A below, to be examined by written paper;

  • (b) two subjects selected from Schedules B––C [not more than one subject may normally be taken from Schedule C] examined by two pre-set essays (each of not more than 5,000 words).

• In lieu of one of the subjects in (b) above, M.St. (but not normally M.Phil.) candidates may offer, with the permission of the committee, a dissertation of not more than 10,000 words (excluding bibliography and descriptive catalogue or similar factual matter, but including notes and appendices).

• The topic of the dissertation must be approved by the candidate’’s supervisor and by the School of Archaeology Committee for Graduate Studies. The topic of the dissertation must be clearly distinct from the topics covered by other pre-set essays submitted by the candidate under 5(b). The dissertation must be the work of the candidate alone, and aid from others must be limited to prior discussion of the subject, bibliographic advice, help with access to study material and advice on presentation. The dissertation must be a new piece of work, substantially different from any dissertation previously submitted by the candidate for a degree of this or another university. When the dissertation is submitted, it must be accompanied by a statement, signed by the candidate, confirming that these conditions have been met. The proposed title of the dissertation, countersigned by the supervisor, must be submitted for approval by the committee by noon on the Friday of the seventh week of the Michaelmas Full Term preceding the examination.    Candidates must upload their dissertation to the AssignmentsUniversity sectionapproved ofonline theassessment course WebLearn site platform no later than noon on the Monday of the fifth week of Trinity Full Term and should bear the candidate's examination number but not his or her name.  

Schedule A: Periods

Aegean Area, 2000-1100 BC

Early Iron Age Greece, 1200-700 BC

Archaic, 700-480 BC

Classical, 500-300 BC

Hellenistic, 330-30 BC

Late Republican, 200-30 BC

Early Imperial, 30 BC-AD 120

Middle Imperial, AD 70-250

Late Antiquity, AD 280-650

Byzantine, AD 600-1453

Schedule B: Subjects

Aegean Bronze Age trade: interaction and identities

Aegean Bronze Age Scripts

Aegean Bronze Age religion

Topics in Aegean Prehistory

Aegean and the East, 1200-600 BC

Burials, settlements, and society in Early Greece, 1200-650 BC

Archaeology of the Early Greek polis, 800-450 BC

Early Ionia, 1000-450 BC

Etruscan Italy

Greek sculpture

Greek vases

Archaeology of Athens and Attica 600-50 BC

The archaeology of ancient Macedonia, 600-100 BC

Greek funerary archaeology, 600-100 BC

Archaeology of Greek women

Greek coinage

Greek and Roman wall painting

History of collections: classical art

Historical narrative in Hellenistic and Roman art

Roman sculpture

Roman portraits

Roman Provincial Art

Problems and methods in ancient art-history

Roman architecture

Topography of Rome (This may be taken in conjunction with the British School at Rome taught course only if accepted by the British School at Rome on its programme, and it involves attendance at the residential course organised by the British School at Rome in Rome.)

Pompeii and Ostia

Greek and Roman housing

Archaeology of the Roman economy

The archaeology of Roman urban systems

Roman North Africa

Landscape archaeology in the Greek and Roman world

Maritime archaeology of the Greek and Roman Mediterranean

Myth in Greek and Roman Art

Roman Britain

Roman coinage

Byzantine Constantinople

Late Roman and Byzantine mosaics and painting

Late Roman and Byzantine architecture

The archaeology of lived religion in Late Antiquity

Schedule C: Other subjects

Any subject offered in the M.St. in Archaeology, Byzantine Studies, Greek and/or Latin Languages and Literature, Greek and Roman History, History of Art, Women’’s Studies.

Candidates may apply for other subjects, to be taken under Schedule B, to be approved by the committee, which shall define their scope and inform both the candidate and the examiners of this definition in writing.

Not all subjects may be available in any one year.

• 6. Candidates will be expected to show a general knowledge of Ancient History and Geography, so far as they are concerned with their periods and subjects.

• 7. Candidates must present themselves for an oral examination as required by the examiners.

• 8. The period and subjects to be offered by candidates and their chosen method of examination, duly approved by their supervisors, must be submitted for approval to the Graduate Studies Committee of the School of Archaeology by noon of Friday of seventh week of the Michaelmas Full Term preceding the examination. Notice of subjects to be offered by candidates must be given to the Registrar (via Student Self Service) not later than Friday of the eighth week of that same term.

• 9. Candidates offering pairs of pre-set essays will propose essay topics in consultation with their supervisor or relevant course provider. The proposed essay titles, countersigned by the supervisor, must be submitted for approval of the Chair of Examiners by no later than noon on Friday of the eighth week of the term in which the instruction for that subject is given. Candidates must upload their pre-set essays to the AssignmentsUniversity sectionapproved ofonline theassessment course WebLearn siteplatform no later than noon on Monday of theweek first week0 of the term following that in which the instruction for that subject was given. Essays should bear the candidate's examination number but not his or her name.  

• With respect to preset essays and theses, only the file submitted via WebLearnthe University approved online assessment platform constitutes a valid submission, no concomitant hard-copy submission may be submitted for any purpose. Each submission must be accompanied by a declaration indicating that it is the candidates's own work.  

• 10. In the case of failure in just one part of the examination, the candidate will be permitted to retake that part of the examination on one further occasion, not later than one year after the initial attempt. Written papers would be retaken the following year.