Ancient History and Archaeology

Ancient history and archaeology are disciplines that depend on each other. Ancient historians read and interpret texts, inscriptions, and documents from the ancient world, deploying critical and analytical skills refined over centuries of scholarship. Archaeologists work with the physical remains of those same societies, recovering and interpreting objects, structures, and landscapes that no text ever described.

Together they provide a richer and more complete picture of the past than either can achieve independently.

At the University of Exeter, this three-year full-time programme develops your skills in both disciplines across a broad range of ancient cultures, from prehistoric Britain and Bronze Age Greece to the classical civilisations of Greece and Rome and the provinces of the Roman Empire. You will learn to read and evaluate ancient literary and documentary sources alongside the methods of archaeological fieldwork, artefact analysis, and spatial data interpretation. Research methods are central to both disciplines, and you will develop the ability to construct and defend arguments from heterogeneous kinds of evidence.

The programme includes a sandwich year, a year abroad, and work placement opportunities, giving you professional and international experience alongside the academic content. These are particularly valuable in a field where fieldwork experience and international scholarly connections are genuine assets. The typical entry tariff is 136 UCAS points.

Graduates from ancient history and archaeology programmes go on to careers in heritage, museums, archaeological fieldwork, archiving, education, publishing, journalism, the civil service, and cultural organisations. The analytical and communication skills the degree develops are also valued across many other professional contexts. Further study options include postgraduate degrees in classical studies, ancient history, archaeology, and museum studies.