Professor Roger Matthews is very pleased to announce that we will be running a new course to begin in 2014…

How best do we understand the modern Middle East, a complex and diverse region that features so much in the global news today? Study of the region’s past is the only way to gain real understanding of its present situation and of possible future directions. This programme is a brand new MA designed for those who wish to develop their knowledge of the Middle East through the advanced study of its archaeology.

Here’s a link to the webpage

The University of Reading has a high concentration of archaeologists working on the archaeology and history of the Middle East. In this MA you will take part in active learning through guided study of themes and issues in the archaeology of the Middle East. You will be able to explore major episodes in the human past through case studies from all regions of the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Arabia, the Levant and Egypt. The degree will focus on inter-disciplinary approaches to important, real-world issues, including the transition from hunter-forager to farmer-herder, the development of urban, literate civilisations, and the rise and fall of some of the world’s greatest empires.

The department celebrated the 65^th birthday of one of the department’s founding members, (and Silchester’s Project Director), Prof. Mike Fulford with cake, bubbly and an edited volume on Roman archaeology. The book (a festschrift) celebrates his academic career and contains papers on the Roman countryside, Roman towns and Roman artefacts. Copies at a reduced price (£45) for friends and colleagues of Mike Fulford can still be obtained from Hella Eckardt.

We are delighted to announce that Hazel Thornthwaite, who graduated this summer, was awarded a prize last night by the Prehistoric Society. She was a runner up in the Prehistoric Society Undergraduate Dissertation Prize competition for the dissertation that has made the greatest contribution to the study of prehistory in any part of the world.

This is excellent acknowledgement for the quality of Hazel’s dissertation “Ethnoarchaeology of horse husbandry in the New Forest and its archaeological implications” and all the hard work she put in.

Interested in Anglo-Saxon Glastonbury? Then get yourself to the Institute of Archaeology in London for The David Wilson lecture in Medieval Studies, at 5.30pm on Wednesday 16th October, lecture Theatre G6. Roberta will be speaking on the subject of: Glastonbury Abbey: Reinterpreting the Anglo-Saxon Archaeology. This will be followed by a launch party for the seminar series in the staff common room there.

A new television series on BBC4 entitled ‘Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage and Death’ starts tonight (Wednesday 9th October) at 9pm. The first programme looks at birth, the second (16/10/13) marriage and the last (23/10/13) death. Our very own Professor Roberta Gilchrist (who is also Head of the School of Archaeology Geography and Environmental Science) is to appear in episodes 1 and 3. Not to be missed!

Great news for our department! 

The NSS results for 2013 have now been published. The results for Archaeology are excellent, with 100% student satisfaction for the fourth year running!

We are nationally in the top 25% for our subject area with scores of: 98% for teaching quality, 94% teaching support, and 93% for organisation and management.

http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/

Here’s the data for our BA course:

http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/Subjects/Overview/10007802FT-UFARCHBA

and our BSc:

http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/Subjects/Overview/10007802FT-UFARCHBSC