Postgraduate Research Degrees

Research Degrees in Archaeology

There are three research degrees in Archaeology, examined solely by thesis: the DPhil in Archaeology, the DPhil in Archaeological Science (for which candidates can also submit a thesis by papers), and the DPhil in Classical Archaeology, but projects which cross these disciplinary boundaries are welcome, and students are enrolled in the most appropriate degree.

Although students are encouraged to attend lectures, participate in research seminars, and undertake training, there is no pre-determined course of instruction.

All graduate students are also members of the student-led Graduate Archaeology at Oxford society which organises a wide range of events and an annual conference.

Spotlight on DPhil Researchers at the School

DPhil Research: Melody

A Sensory Archaeology Approach to Chinese Tea and Ceramics

DPhil Research: Leah

Conducting fieldwork on shipwrecks to explore ocean resilience

DPhil Research: Emese

Exploring the 'CSI effect' of forensic science

Photo of Jessica who is rock climbing through a narrow crevice. She has a head torch on and is wearing a blue tshirt and khaki torusers

DPhil Research: Jessica

Working with cave mappers, conservationists, & park staff in Belize

DPhil Research: Jonathan

Investigating the cultural landscapes of the Yup'ik people in Southwest Alaska

DPhil Research: Lorena

Tracking early human dispersals in the Americas

DPhil Research: Lachie

Reconstruct the previously hidden evolutionary histories of New Zealand geckos

DPhil Research: Molly

Re-evaluating plant-human relationships across temporal landscapes.

Degree structure

The DPhil is a full-time degree and students are expected to complete their theses, which have a maximum word length of 80,000 words, within three or at the most four years. To begin with, students are admitted as Probationer Research Students, transferring to full doctoral status within four terms of their arrival.

Their progress is formally assessed through the submission of written work and an interview by a small assessment panel ('transfer of status'), while a further similar assessment ('confirmation of status') is held within seven terms of their arrival.

At each stage students also make a short formal presentation of their research at one of the Doctoral Student Symposia organised by the School of Archaeology, which help students develop their presentational skills at an early stage of their careers. Successful doctoral theses must, among other things, display evidence of substantial and original research, lucid and scholarly presentation and a sound knowledge of the general field within which the thesis falls.

Further information

The application process

Full details of the application procedures relating to all (taught and research) degrees administered by the School of Archaeology, including access to the online application form, can be found on the University admissions pages. The Application Guide pages will be particularly useful. What follows is a summary outline of the procedures followed and the steps that you need to take.

Funding

Details of the possible funding mechanisms for new students is given on our Funding for Graduates page. Most funding is specific to the student rather than being allocated to specific projects.

Deadlines for receipt of applications

The University has a number of application deadlines allowing applications to be assessed against each other at a series of dates throughout the academic year. You can apply to study archaeology at Oxford in time for any of the deadlines.

Many programmes are able to consider applications submitted after the last relevant deadline if places are still available but be aware that courses and college places do fill up and so you should apply as soon as possible.

Deadlines for candidates applying for grants

If you are applying for a grant from a UK Research Council, or for Clarendon or other awards, you must apply by the January deadline. You should also indicate on your application that you are applying for a specific award.

The exception to this is the Rhodes Scholarships which have their own deadline typically a year before starting as a student.

Graduate Admissions criteria

Please see:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/dphil-archaeology

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/dphil-archaeological-science

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/dphil-classical-archaeology

Submitting your application

Your application can only be assessed once all relevant information has been supplied. Please therefore make sure to complete all appropriate sections of the application form and arrange for references and written work to be submitted on time. You will need to provide:

evidence of previous academic study, including final degree result (or predicted result if you have not yet completed your studies) and academic transcript (where available);
information on how you will pay fees and support yourself while a graduate student, including information on any scholarships or awards for which you may be applying;
personal statement, and a research proposal for a DPhil (<1500 words);
three academic references;
two pieces of written work.

Existing students

If you are currently studying for a taught course at Oxford and wish to apply to continue onto a research degree with no break in your study you can apply using the Re-admission form. You will need to meet all of the same deadlines and requirements as other applicants except that you will not need to pay a fee to apply. Please see information in the Application guide at https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/applying-to-oxford/application-guide#readmission

Choosing a College

Please see https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/colleges/choosing-college

Assessment of your application

All applications are assessed by two members of the School of Archaeology with relevant experience and expertise, chosen by the Director of Graduate Studies. If need be, additional advice is also taken. Assessments are made solely on academic grounds, and in the majority of cases interviews are not held. We strongly encourage you to email or visit academic or senior research staff that are likely to supervise your project discuss your research plans before making your application as they can help and advise on the project proposal. The assessment is based on the material submitted with your application after consideration of your previous qualifications, references, personal statement or research proposal and the submitted written work, as outlined above.

Funding status considerations

Whether you have yet secured funding is not taken into consideration in the decision to make an initial offer a place, but please note that the initial offer of a place will not be confirmed until the college which gives you an initial offer of a place is satisfied that you have sufficient funding to cover your fees and living costs for the standard period of fee liability for your course.

Disability, health conditions and specific learning difficulties.

Students are selected for admission without regard to gender, marital or civil partnership status, disability, race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, age or social background. Decisions on admission are based solely on the individual academic merits of each candidate and the application of the selection criteria appropriate to the programme of study. Further information on how these matters are supported during the admissions process is available at www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/disabilities

Supervisor	Topics	Key words
Lisa Bendall	Any aspect of the Aegean Bronze Age, including topics on scripts, religion, economy, banqueting, identities, trade and social interactions beyond the Aegean (especially Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean).	archives, gender and identity, inequality, interaction, maritime, religion, trade, urbanism, Linear B, Aegean Bronze Age scripts, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, Aegean Prehistory, Europe, W Asia, Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean
Amy Bogaard	Late prehistoric archaeology, including topics on farming, food, agroecologies, inequality, households, urbanisation and domestication, including novel methodological approaches.	bioarchaeology, biocultural heritage, farming and herding, inequality, land use, urbanisation, later prehistory, Europe, W Asia, Eurasia, Africa, W Asia
Mike Charles	Farming societies of western Asia; origins and spread of agriculture; plant domestication; the role of plants in prehistory; crop/livestock integration; palynological approaches to past land use systems. Establishing impact of preservation processes on plant material.	bioarchaeology, farming and herding, domestication, land use, urbanisation, woodlands, later prehistory, W Asia, Europe, Eurasia
Shadreck Chirikure	Ancient materials and technologies including archaeometallurgy, low and high temperature ceramics and glass; cross craft overlaps in techniques, skills, knowledge and how natural and artificial materials and technologies used to work them shaped the evolution of societies of the past 10 000 years.	material, technologies of making, trade, interaction, materiality, museums, pottery, resilience, material culture, artefacts, exchange, later prehistory, Africa, Eurasia, Americas
Timothy Clack	Contemporary archaeology, conflict archaeology, landscape archaeology, the role of the material past in the construction of modern memories and identities, protection and destruction of cultural heritage, theoretical and methodological approaches to past and present conflicts, and the relationship between archaeology and anthropology.	decolonisation, endangered heritage, wellbeing, policy, land use, conflict, climate change, memory, identity, media, contemporary, Africa, Central Asia, Europe, South Atlantic, Antarctica, Caucasus
Manuel Fernández-Götz	A broad range of topics related to late prehistoric and early historic temperate Europe and the Mediterranean. Particular current thematic areas of interest include the origins of the first cities, the archaeology of identities, migrations, conflict archaeology, and colonial encounters.	urbanisation, urbanism, migration, mobility, materiality, inequality, gender and identity, decolonisation, conflict archaeology, later prehistory, Classical-Roman, Europe, Eurasia
Bill Finlayson	Topics relating to hunter-gather - farmer transitions, especially the social and material culture contexts in SW Asia and NW Europe (chipped stone technology and use; built landscape; knowledge transfer; experimental archaeology); the weoponisation, destruction and protection of cultural heritage.	decolonisation, domestic space, endangered heritage, inequality, materiality, policy, technologies of making, earlier prehistory, contemporary, W Asia, Europe
Dylan Gaffney	The archaeology of the Pacific and Southeast Asia, global Pleistocene archaeology, exploratory archaeological survey and excavation, zooarchaeological analyses of past human–animal interactions, multiproxy palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of vegetational and faunal change, technological and geochemical examinations of lithic or ceramic artefacts to examine mobility and exchange patterns, ethnoarchaeological research on technology and subsistence.	excavations, human evolution, humans and other animals, biocultural heritage, migration, trade, longue duree, technologies of making, island archaeology, human ecology, lithics, zooarchaeology, pottery, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, contemporary, SE Asia, Oceania
David Griffiths	Historical/medieval, Viking-Age, landscape archaeology and heritage.	excavations, endangered heritage, populations and regions, urbanism, landscape, medieval, first millennium CE, Europe, Britain, Scandinavia
Helena Hamerow	A broad range of topics related to the archaeology of early medieval Europe, including its rural economy, mortuary practices, and material culture, in particular for the period c. 400-900.	trade, migration, gender and identity, archives, domestic space, excavations, farming and herding, inequality, medieval, Europe
Anke Hein	Chinese and broader East and Southeast Asian Archaeology, in particular but not limited to prehistoric and early historic periods, including research on ceramic technology, culture contact and human movement, and the history and practice of archaeological research as well its broader societal impact.	archives, technologies of making, decolonisation, gender and identity, interaction, materiality, mobility, museums, theories and practice, policy, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, contemporary, early historic, historic, E Asia, SE Asia
Dan Hicks	All aspects of the archaeology and material and visual culture of the post-medieval, 19th-century, modern and contemporary past, including heritage studies, museum studies, histories of landscape and the built environment, and the intersections between histories of art and histories of science. Particular current thematic areas of interest include colonialism/decolonisation, conflict/war, memory cultures/memorialisation, and histories of the climate emergency.	decolonisation, biocultural heritage, curation, endangered heritage, materiality, museums, policy, contemporary, post-medieval, Europe, Africa, Americas
Christopher Howgego	Topics connected with the Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire project: https://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/.	digital archaeology, trade, wealth, Classical-Roman, Europe, Eurasia, Africa, Roman coinage, Roman economy, coin hoards, coin circulation, numismatics
Ine Jacobs	Topics related to late antique urbanism, the archaeology of religion and popular culture in Late Antiquity, and the Byzantine Dark Ages.	domestic space, excavations, gender and identity, religion, resilience, urbanism, wealth, material religion , architecture, Classical-Roman, medieval, late antique, Byzantine, Europe, W Asia
Jane Kershaw	Any aspect of Viking-Age archaeology, especially gender, resource exploitation, systems of exchange, rural and maritime landscapes and interactions at the edges of the 'Viking world', particularly in the east.	materiality, gender and identity, maritime, material, mobility, trade, wealth, silk road, metals and money, landscape, medieval, early medieval , Viking Age, Eurasia, Europe
Greger Larson	Domestication, phylogenetics, evolutionary genomics, human / animal interactions.	bioarchaeology, farming and herding, longue duree, humans and other animals, human evolution, interaction, mobility
Irene Lemos	Wide range of topics on the Late Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean including interactions, exchange patterns, burial practices, regional and interregional analyses, material culture, societal structures and relations.	excavations, material culture, Burial practices, resilience, social structures, Classical-Greek, Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Archaic Period, Early Classical, Europe, Mediterranean, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Levant
Lambros Malafouris	General areas of cognitive, anthropological and theoretical archaeology; material engagement theory, the relationship cognition and material culture, the anthropology of technics, creativity, making, self and the body, human becoming, material semiotics, and the effects of materiality on mental health.	materiality, wellbeing, cognitive archaeology, anthropological archaeology, archaeological theory, self and the body, creativity and human becoming
Liam McNamara	The archaeology and material culture of ancient Egypt and Sudan, particularly the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods (late 4th–early 3rd millennium BC), for which the Ashmolean holds the most significant collections outside Egypt.	archives, curation, decolonisation, excavations, material, museums, technologies of making, urbanisation, Egyptology, ancient Egyptian art, fieldwork, object distribution, history of collections, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, Predynastic Egypt, Early Dynastic Egypt, Dynastic Egypt, Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Nubia
Milena Melfi	Hellenistic and Roman Greece, archaeology of religion, memory, change and cultural history. Topics relating to the use of casts, copies and replicas of Greek and Roman objects in museum displays, especially in connection with colonial/imperial policies.	curation, decolonisation, excavations, health, religion, resilience, material, mobility, Classical-Greek, Classical-Roman, contemporary, Europe
Peter Mitchell	Topics relating to the archaeology of sub-Saharan Africa with a strong preference for southern regions of the continent and/or the archaeology of Middle and Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers. Research related to human/equine and human/canine interactions would also be of potential interest.	excavations, endangered heritage, farming and herding, humans and other animals, trade, hunter-gatherers, impacts of colonialism, later prehistory, Africa
Catherine Morgan	Greek Archaeology, including topics on political organization, sanctuaries, landscape, trade, and manufacturing and extractive industries. I specialize in mainland Greece, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea.	trade, technologies of making, excavations, endangered heritage, museums, mobility, pottery, religion, political organization, later prehistory, Classical-Greek, contemporary, Europe, Greece, Adriatic, Black Sea
Courtney Nimura	Material culture from the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe; rock art (Europe, South Africa, Australia); portable art and prehistoric art (Europe); other topics situated in the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe; Ashmolean collection-related topics; curatorial and museum studies topics.	curation, digital archaeology, material, materiality, museums, religion, trade, interaction, later prehistory, Europe, rock art, portable art, prehistoric art
Charlotte Potts	Topics relating to the archaeology of Etruscan and Latin religion, architecture in early central Italy, and approaches to the display of these cultures in modern museums.	curation, materiality, museums, religion, architecture, contemporary, Classical-Roman, later prehistory, pre-Roman Italy, Archaic Italy, Europe, central Italy
John Pouncett	Spatial archaeology or landscape archaeology, including studies on GiS, spatial analysis, remote sensing, archaeological prospection, ancient woodlands, isoscapes and geographic assignment.	digital archaeology, land use, mobility, woodlands, spatial analysis, GIS, landscape, archaeological prospection, later prehistory, Europe, Eurasia
Christopher Bronk Ramsey	Interdisciplinary topics (especially involving mathematical, physical or data sciences), applications of chronological modelling, and lessons from past climate change.	chronology, digital archaeology, human evolution, resilience, policy, radiocarbon calibration, climate change, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, medieval, Quaternary, Europe, Americas, E Asia, Egypt, Japan
Damian Robinson	Maritime archaeology, including topics on shipwrecks, ports and harbour infrastructure, maritime cultural and sunken landscapes, studies on material culture from maritime sites, and methodological approaches.	maritime, excavations, interaction, materiality, trade, later prehistory, Classical-Greek, Classical-Roman, medieval, Europe, SE Asia, Mediterranean, Egypt, maritime and fluvial Northern Europe, Indian Ocean, Western Pacific Ocean
Rick Schulting	Topics addressing human and animal diet and mobility, individual life histories, inequality, conflict and human adaptations to coastal zones and islands.	bioarchaeology, diet, mobility, chronology, health, farming and herding, inequality, resilience, hunter-gatherers, conflict, violence, warfare, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Europe, Eurasia, Americas, Britain, Ireland, Siberia, Bahamas, Japan
Jean-Luc Schwenninger	Research into the application and development of luminescence dating of samples from archaeological excavations and museum collections including, extending the age range by using different chronometers and novel methods of analysis such as infrared radio-fluorescence, exploring the use of spatially resolved luminescence with low light imaging devices, developing new methods for studying unconventional types of sample and improving existing capabilities for assessing the environmental dose rate.	chronology, museums, pottery, human evolution, longue duree, migration, bioarchaeology, excavations, islands, human impact, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, medieval, post-medieval, Classical-Roman, Classical-Greek, contemporary, Quaternary, Pleistocene , Holocene, Africa, Europe, Eurasia, S Asia, SE Asia, Eurasia, W Asia, Americas
Andrew Shapland	Aegean Bronze Age archaeology, particularly Minoan Crete and the history of the discipline; approaches to human-animal relations through material culture/iconography; topics involving the Ashmolean Museum's Greek collections (Bronze Age-Classical).	archives, curation, humans and other animals, materiality, museums, later prehistory, Classical-Greek, Minoan, Bronze Age, Homeric, Europe, Greece, Crete
Victoria Smith	Tephrochronology, tephrostratigraphy, volcanic geology, and using tephra layers to provide chronology for archaeological and palaeonvironmental sequences.	chronology, resilience, archives, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, E Asia, Europe, Eurasia, Americas
Maria Stamatopoulou	Topics on Greek archaeology and art, in particular funerary archaeology, archival archaeology, iconography, painting, terracottas, domestic space, material religion; specialisation in mainland Greece, in particular Thessaly and Macedonia during the first millennium BCE.	archives, domestic space, excavations, pottery, material, religion, gender and identity, Thessaly, Macedonia, Classical-Greek, eastern Mediterranean, Europe, mortuary practices, iconography
Eleanor Standley	Later medieval archaeology topics, particularly those with a strong focus on artefacts, and archaeologies of beliefs, religion, the body and emotion.	material, materiality, gender and identity, religion, museums, archives, curation, religion, later medieval material culture, archaeology of emotion, archaeology of the body, memory and beliefs, medieval, post-medieval, later medieval, early modern, Europe, Britain
Peter Stewart	Graeco-Roman art, including topics on Roman sculpture, Roman provincial art, antiquities collecting, and connections between Rome and the wider world of ancient art (e.g. Gandhara, India, and Central Asia).	archives, biography, digital archaeology, museums, silk road, art, sculpture, painting, global ancient art, collecting, Classical-Roman, Classical-Greek, post-medieval, early modern, Europe, Central Asia, S Asia, W Asia, Mediterranean
Amy Styring	Topics involving reconstructing past diets (of both humans and animals), cultivation and animal management practices, and their impact on the environment using isotopic analysis, particularly projects aiming to advance compound specific isotope approaches to address these questions.	bioarchaeology, biocultural heritage, diet, farming and herding, land use, woodlands, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, medieval, Africa, Eurasia
Andrew Wilson	Topics connected with the Roman economy, ancient technology, water management and supply, and archaeological evidence for settlement response to environmental change in the Roman period.	land use, urbanisation, material, populations and regions, silk road, trade, urbanism, wealth, Roman economy, technology, aqueducts, water management, mining, Classical-Roman, Europe, Africa, North Africa, Asia Minor, Levant
Rachel Wood	Projects where radiocarbon dating plays a key role in the thesis, including projects developing new methodologies (including for example compound specific approaches and investigations into the impact of diagenesis) and projects applying radiocarbon dating to a wide range of archaeological and forensic questions; projects where radiocarbon plays a large role in a thesis within other fields, e.g. geoscience or carbon cycle research (as a co-supervisor).	chronology, earlier prehistory, later prehistory, medieval, Africa, Americas, Central Asia, E Asia, Eurasia, Europe, S Asia, SE Asia

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