Ancient History & Archaeology and Social Anthropology

Ancient history and archaeology together offer the closest we can come to understanding the civilisations of the distant past: archaeology through the physical remains of buildings, objects, and landscapes, and ancient history through the written and visual records that those societies left behind. Social anthropology brings to the combination a way of thinking about human societies comparatively, asking what is universal and what is particular about the ways human beings organise kinship, religion, economy, and political life. Together these three disciplines make you a more versatile and sensitive interpreter of both past and present human experience.

At St Andrews, the MA in Ancient History and Archaeology with Social Anthropology runs over four years full-time and includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study in a different academic and cultural environment. You will explore the history of Greece and Rome and the civilisations of their neighbours, from the period of early Greek writing in the eighth century BCE through to the collapse of the western Roman empire in the fifth century CE. The geographical scope ranges across the Mediterranean world in its fullest sense.

Alongside this, you will engage with the theory and methods of archaeology, learning to interpret excavated evidence critically, and with social anthropology's comparative frameworks for understanding social structure, ritual, and culture. St Andrews has a strong international reputation in both ancient history and anthropology, and the combination allows for genuinely interdisciplinary thinking.

Graduates go on to careers in heritage and museum work, conservation, education, the civil service, publishing, journalism, and academic research. The programme provides an excellent foundation for postgraduate study in classical archaeology, ancient history, anthropology, or heritage management, and the analytical and research skills it develops are valued widely beyond the academy.