MA in Medieval Archaeology

Course director: Aleksandra McClain*

*For the 2011/12 academic year, Dr Steve Ashby will be acting course director

Overview

The MA in Medieval Archaeology programme focuses on the artefacts, landscapes, buildings, and social, cultural, and environmental contexts of medieval Britain and Western Europe. The course covers the time period from the end of the Roman empire to the Reformation, and explores themes within these time periods including settlement, trade and economy, religion, mortuary practice, buildings, artefacts and other material culture, social structure, ethnicity and identity, conquest and cultural contact, and methodological and theoretical approaches.

The degree is primarily aimed at those whose previous experience is in archaeology, history, art history, or anthropology.  However, our students come from a wide variety of academic backgrounds, and we welcome applications from any person with an interest in medieval material culture.

Staff

  • Steve Ashby: specialises in artefacts and small finds, with a particular interest in the Viking Age in Scotland, England, and Scandinavia, and artefacts made of bone and antler. He is generally interested in the use of dress accessories in constructing identity, and biographies of artefacts.
  • Jonathan Finch: specialises in landscape studies and church archaeology. He is interested particularly in medieval and post-medieval estate and hunting landscapes, as well as commemoration and the construction of social identities.
  • Kate Giles: specialises in the archaeology of buildings, particularly medieval and early modern public architecture. She is also the York Minster Archaeological Research Fellow, responsible for carrying out and encouraging research on the standing fabric of the Minster and its estate.
  • Aleks McClain: specialises in the archaeology of churches, funerary monuments, and late-Saxon and Norman England. She has more general interests in medieval northern England, lordship and elite social identity, and the relationships between landscapes and religious buildings and material culture.
  • Michelle Mundee: (from January 2012) specialises in bioarchaeology and medieval archaeology. Her research has focused particularly on the relationship between diet and society, religion, and culture in medieval Spain.
  • Julian Richards: our Head of Department, is a specialist in the archaeology of Anglo-Saxon and Viking Age England, especially mortuary behaviour and settlement evolution. He has recently completed a series of excavations at the Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian "productive" site at Cottam, and the Scandinavian cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby.
  • Steve Roskams: has particular interests in the Roman and post-Roman periods, urban archaeology, and field archaeology and stratigraphic analysis.
  • Soren Sindbaek: specialises in the Viking Age in continental Europe and Scandinavia.  He is particularly interested in the development of trade and urbanism, cultural boundaries and intersections, and methods of systems modeling and network analysis.

Facilities

The city of York is renowned for its rich medieval archaeology, as is the surrounding countryside of Yorkshire. The buildings, material culture, and landscape of York and its county offer a marvelous environment for teaching and research in medieval archaeology.

The programme also benefits from its connections with the Centre for Medieval Studies, which is the foremost interdisciplinary research centre for the medieval period in Britain. There are several specialist libraries and archives in York that are particularly useful for Medieval Archaeology students. The King's Manor Library, the York Minster Library, the Raymond Burton Library for Humanities Research, and the Borthwick Institute for Archives all feature extensive documentary collections.

The city also hosts internationally important collections of material culture relevant to medieval archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum, and the collections of the York Archaeological Trust, which is responsible for the medieval excavations at Coppergate and Hungate.  York is also home to the North and East Yorkshire branch of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, as well as the Council for British Archaeology.

There is also a wide range of facilities in the department for students undertaking an Archaeology Masters programme. These include:

  • Dedicated IT suite with a full range of software including generic and specialist archaeological packages and computing support from two highly experienced experimental officers
  • A comprehensive range of state-of-the-art field survey equipment which postgraduates can normally use for their project work (and can gain experience with via the skills modules we offer)
  • A wide range of lab facilities for archaeological analysis including environmental and artefact processing as well as the bioarchaeological facilities on campus
  • A well stocked library with access to electronic resources, and study areas both in the Kings Manor library and the library on campus
  • The Kings Manor includes a common room and refectory open to all staff and students, and WiFi is available across the Kings Manor

Structure

Structure

Over the autumn and spring terms you will take:

  • two core 20 credit modules
  • two option 20 credit modules
  • four 5 credit skills modules

In the summer you will carry out research for your dissertation and give an Assessed Lecture on your dissertation topic.

Core modules

Recommended option modules

Recommended skills modules

Whilst we endeavour to give everyone their first choice on modules, please note that this cannot always be guaranteed. Please be aware that certain skills modules are required by particular programmes, and so may be more over-subscribed than others.  Please see the Full modules list for scheduling information on option and skills modules, as some run concurrently.

Entry

You will need:

  • A good honours degree (upper second or first) or an equivalent qualification from an overseas institution in archaeology, anthropology, Classics, history, art history, geography, medieval/Renaissance studies, or other relevant fields.  From North American universities, we ask for a 3.0 GPA or higher.
  • In the case of mature students who might not have conventional qualifications, appropriate relevant experience will be taken into careful consideration.

Apply now

First, please see our How to apply page, which explains what information the Department needs in your application.

Careers

By the time you complete the course, you will have acquired a level of knowledge and skills that will serve you well in a future career in archaeology. Our former students have gone on to pursue research degrees, academic or teaching careers, museum positions, and archaeology posts at local councils, regional authorities, field units, and heritage bodies such as English Heritage and the Portable Antiquities Scheme

The Medieval Archaeology MA offers you the opportunity to:

  • study a broad range of issues in medieval archaeology at a general level
  • study selected topics in detail, which may be drawn from both the early and later medieval periods
  • relate a study of general research principles and skills to your studies of medieval archaeology in particular
  • develop an ability to gather and organise information and arguments in a critical and independent manner
  • undertake a piece of independent research on a topic within the field of medieval archaeology
  • develop written communication skills through essays and independent research
  • develop presentation skills through the delivery of seminar papers and a short lecture on your dissertation topic
 
The undercroft of the lay brothers' dormitory at Fountains Abbey

The department is really friendly and relaxed, and York is a great place to do medieval archaeology. Having so much heritage and history at your fingertips is fantastic!

Emma Boast, MA in Medieval Archaeology student