Archaeology and Anthropology

About the course

Archaeology and anthropology together encompass the study of humankind from the origins of the human species to the present day.

Both disciplines have a long history: archaeology grew from 18th-century antiquarianism, while anthropology began even earlier in the first days of colonial encounter.

Today, both subjects involve a range of sophisticated approaches shared with the arts, social sciences and physical sciences.

Oxford’s distinctive combination of archaeology and anthropology, studied over three years, offers an unusually broad perspective on human societies from early prehistory to the present.

The course offers a comprehensive guide to the richness and diversity of human cultural experience throughout space and time.

By choosing to study here you will be able to:

• explore how humans evolved
• get to grips with major transformational processes in human history such as the development of farming, the emergence of towns and trading systems and the spread of world religions
• learn why societies structure their families, economies and political systems in the ways that they do
• investigate how material culture represents and reproduces beliefs and ideologies.

Five Oxford institutions specialise in these subjects:

• The School of Archaeology 
• The School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography
• The Ashmolean Museum
• The Pitt Rivers Museum 
• The Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

All five institutions play a key role in the provision of teaching for the degree.

Fieldwork/work placements/international opportunities

As part of your course you must undertake a minimum of four weeks of fieldwork (subject to approval by your tutors). This is normally completed in the summer vacation at the end of your first year. 

Fieldwork can take place in field settings, or in a laboratory or museum and involve anthropological as well as archaeological projects. Recent destinations include Azerbaijan, Denmark and South Africa.

Financial support for your fieldwork is available from the University and may also be available from your college. You may also choose to engage in further fieldwork as part of your final-year dissertation, while other opportunities may exist for work-based learning in the University’s own museums.

'I love studying Arch and Anth because it’s such a diverse course. No two days are the same and you get to study so many fascinating things: last week for example, I had a lecture on geology and stratigraphy, went to the library to do some reading on witchcraft, and then had a tutorial about the rise of early states and empires. I also spent three hours writing a paragraph about the presence of ancient bananas in New Guinea and what this showed us!' Izzy	'Choosing Archaeology and Anthropology, for me, was about the amazing breadth of the subject. I had always favoured history and biology in school, and this degree offers ways to not only combine the two, but also to look at both history and science from a completely new angle… With my degree, I’ve had the opportunity for field trips, field work in southern England, and am planning on several months in South America...' Erin	'The remit for Arch and Anth is essentially every human society in the world both today and throughout the whole of history.  You can pretty much study anything within that, which is so exciting!  I'd thought it would focus on the big civilisations (Greece, Rome, Inca, Maya, Egypt etc) but actually some of the most interesting stuff turned out to be the slightly more obscure areas, such as gift exchange in modern Japan.' Natasha

Unistats information

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Visit the Studying at Oxford section of this page for a more general insight into what studying here is likely to be like.

Please select 'see course data' to view the full Unistats data for Archaeology and Anthropology. 

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Archaeology and Anthropology

Academic requirements

Wherever possible, your grades are considered in the context in which they have been achieved.

Read further information on how we use contextual data.

Subject requirements

Applying

All candidates must follow the application procedure as shown on our Applying to Oxford pages.

The following information gives specific details for students applying for this course.

Admissions test

You do not need to take a written test as part of an application for this course.

Written work

Visit our page on the submission of written work for further guidance and to download a cover sheet.

What are tutors looking for?

Tutors are primarily looking for an interest in, and enthusiasm for, the study of humans and their material culture, combined with an ability to digest and assimilate significant quantities of data and to construct evidence-based arguments.

While you don’t need to have prior experience of studying archaeology or anthropology, fieldwork experience and evidence of supplementary reading would be seen as one possible demonstration of your interest and commitment.

Tutors will be looking for the following qualities at interview:

• an ability to think independently
• potential and motivation for studying archaeology and anthropology
• enthusiasm and interest in the combined disciplines
• commitment to the requirements of the course.

Visit the Archaeology website for more detail on the selection criteria for this course.

Fees