A04 Store Room, Humanities Building, University Park

Archaeology and History

University Park Campus, Nottingham, UK

Course overview


From the first hunter-gatherers to the complex societies of the medieval and modern periods, this course lets you study the past not just through texts and images but through material remains.

You will explore the broadest range of periods through complementary disciplines. By combining the scientific study of material remains with historical research, writing and debate, you will cover the key ways we study the past. You will also deepen your knowledge of history through theory and practice, covering a range of periods from the Palaeolithic to the recent past.

Our geographic reach is from Britain to the Far East and North America. You can investigate race, rights and propaganda and discover heroes and villains from the Middle Ages. Your studies can range from learning about evolution, culture and society through the study of bones, to the private lives of historical figures through letters. You will also gain practical experience of fieldwork and archaeological research in the UK and abroad.

As a joint honours student, you will benefit from skills development and assessment methods from both subjects. Each subject is taught separately, but you can choose a uniting theme for your final year dissertation.

 

 

Indicative modules

Mandatory

Year 1

Comparative World Prehistory

Mandatory

Year 1

Learning History

Mandatory

Year 1

Rome to Revolution: Historical Archaeology of Britain

Optional

Year 1

Roads to Modernity: An Introduction to Modern History 1750-1945

Optional

Year 1

The Contemporary World since 1945

Optional

Year 1

Making the Middle Ages 500-1500

Optional

Year 1

Themes in Early Modern European History c.1500-1789

Mandatory

Year 2

Archaeology: Theory and Practice

Optional

Year 2

Communicating the Past

Optional

Year 2

Extended Source Study

Optional

Year 2

Archaeological Finds: from Field to Publication

Optional

Year 2

The Silk Road: Cultural Interactions and Perceptions

Optional

Year 2

Pompeii: Art and Culture in a Roman Town

Optional

Year 2

Osteology

Optional

Year 2

Archaeology of Anglo Saxon England

Optional

Year 2

Themes in Near Eastern Prehistory

Optional

Year 2

The World of the Minoans

Optional

Year 2

Italy before the Romans

Optional

Year 2

Ancient Metallurgy

Optional

Year 2

A Tale of Seven Kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age England from Bede to Alfred the Great

Optional

Year 2

British Foreign Policy and the Origins of the World Wars, 1895-1939

Optional

Year 2

Central European History: From Revolution to War, 1848-1914

Optional

Year 2

Consumers & Citizens: Society & Culture in 18th Century England

Optional

Year 2

De-industrialisation: A Social and Cultural History c.1970-1990

Optional

Year 2

Environmental History: Nature and the Western World 1800-2000

Optional

Year 2

European Fascisms 1900-1945

Optional

Year 2

Poverty, Disease and Disability: Britain, 1795-1930

Optional

Year 2

The Venetian Republic, 1450-1575

Optional

Year 2

Heroes and Villains in the Middle Ages

Optional

Year 2

Imagining 'Britain': Decolonising Tolkien et al

Optional

Year 2

International History of the Middle East and North Africa 1918-1995

Optional

Year 2

Kingship in Crisis: Politics, People and Power in Late-medieval England

Optional

Year 2

Liberating Africa: Decolonisation, Development and the Cold War, 1919-1994

Optional

Year 2

Rule and Resistance in Colonial India, c.1757-1857

Optional

Year 2

Sex, Lies and Gossip? Women of Medieval England

Optional

Year 2

Sexuality in Early Medieval Europe

Optional

Year 2

"Slaves of the Devil" and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Optional

Year 2

Soviet State and Society

Optional

Year 2

The British Empire from Emancipation to the Boer War

Optional

Year 2

The Rise of Modern China

Optional

Year 2

The Victorians: Life, Thought and Culture

Optional

Year 2

Travel and Adventure in the Medieval World

Optional

Year 2

A Protestant Nation? Politics, Religion and Society in England, 1558-1640

Optional

Year 2

The Early Modern Global Spanish Empire (1450-1850)

Optional

Year 2

Rethinking the Tudors: Monarchy, Society and Religion in England, 1485-1603

Optional

Year 2

Gender, Empire, Selfhood: Transgender History in Global Context

Optional

Year 2

Commodities, Consumption and Connections the Global World of Things 1500-1800

Optional

Year 2

In the Heart of Europe: Histories of Modern Poland

Optional

Year 2

History and Politics: A Problem or a Solution?

Optional

Year 2

Villains or Victims: White Women and the British Empire c.1840-1980

Optional

Year 2

France and its Empire(s) 1815-1914

Optional

Year 2

The politics of memory in postwar Western Europe

Optional

Year 2

Exile and Homeland: Jewish Culture, Thought and Politics in Modern Europe and Mandatory Palestine between 1890 and 1950

Optional

Year 2

The Tokugawa World: 1600-1868

Optional

Year 2

Conquerors, Caliphs, and Converts: The Making of the Islamic World, c.600-800

Optional

Year 2

Employing the Arts

Optional

Year 2

Arts Work Placement Module

Optional

Year 3

Dissertation in History

Optional

Year 3

Dissertation in Classics and Archaeology

Optional

Year 3

The Silk Road: Cultural Interactions and Perceptions

Optional

Year 3

Mapping the Humanities

Optional

Year 3

Heritage and the Media

Optional

Year 3

Pompeii: Art and Culture in a Roman Town

Optional

Year 3

Osteology

Optional

Year 3

The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England

Optional

Year 3

Themes in Near Eastern Prehistory

Optional

Year 3

The World of the Minoans

Optional

Year 3

Italy before the Romans

Optional

Year 3

Ancient Metallurgy

Optional

Year 3

"Otherness" in Classical Art

Optional

Year 3

The British Civil Wars c.1639-1652

Optional

Year 3

Sexuality and Society in Britain Since 1900

Optional

Year 3

Alternatives to War: Articulating Peace since 1815

Optional

Year 3

Windrush and the (Re)Making of a Nation: Myth and Memory

Optional

Year 3

British Culture in the Age of Mass Production, 1920-1950

Optional

Year 3

Overseas Exploration, European Diplomacy, and the Rise of Tudor England

Optional

Year 3

"Slaves of the Devil" and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Optional

Year 3

European colonialism and the boundary of the human in the long eighteenth century

Optional

Year 3

The 1960s and the West, 1958-1974

Optional

Year 3

Russia in Revolution 1905-21

Optional

Year 3

The Reign of Richard II

Optional

Year 3

'World wasting itself in blood': Europe and the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)

Optional

Year 3

Rebels Against Empire: Anticolonialism and British Imperialism in the mid 20th Century

Optional

Year 3

The Hundred Years War

Optional

Year 3

Cultures of Power and the Power of Culture in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

Optional

Year 3

The Agony and the Ecstasy: Drugs for Pleasure and Pain in the History of Medicine

Optional

Year 3

Zero Hour: Germany, Poland, and post-war reconstruction in Europe, 1945-1955

Optional

Year 3

Britain in the Age of the French Revolution: 1789-1803

Optional

Year 3

Victorians in Italy: Travelling South in the Nineteenth Century

Optional

Year 3

Faith and Fire: Popular Religion in Late Medieval England

Optional

Year 3

The Black Death

Optional

Year 3

The Chimera: British Imperialism and Its Discontents, 1834-1919

Optional

Year 3

Disease and Domination: The History of Medicine and the Colonial Encounter

Optional

Year 3

The past that won’t go away: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Optional

Year 3

Plague, Fire and the Reimagining of the Capital 1600-1720: The Making of Modern London

Optional

Year 3

Slavery, Caste and Capitalism: Labouring Lives in Global History, 1750-2000

Optional

Year 3

Napoleonic Europe and its Aftermath, 1799-1848

Optional

Year 3

From Serfdom to Stalin: Rural Life in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, 1853-1932

Optional

Year 3

Italy and the Second World War

Optional

Year 3

The three faces of Eve: Jewish Christian and Muslim women in Medieval Iberia

Optional

Year 3

Crisis, What Crisis? The West, c. 1970 to 2000

Optional

Year 3

A historical journey through Italy's links with the wider world

Optional

Year 3

Politics, culture, and sexuality in Renaissance and baroque Rome

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About modules

The above is a sample of the typical modules we offer, but is not intended to be construed or relied on as a definitive list of what might be available in any given year. This content was last updated on Wednesday 8 January 2025. Due to timetabling availability, there may be restrictions on some module combinations.

Undergradute student studying in the George Green library, University Park. November 5th 2021.

The reason I chose Archaeology and History combined is that it gave me the opportunity to study a wide range of history right from the prehistoric. This incorporates both archaeological skills and techniques as well as historical analysis. The course has given me a wide range of knowledge and has been such a fascinating and interesting combination. Plus, all the staff on both history and archaeology are always extremely helpful and kind.  

Hope White

Archaeology and History BA

Course data

Archaeology and History at University of Nottingham, the

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Open Day June 2022