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What is archaeology?

Ancient civilisations are endlessly fascinating.  From the astronomical sophistication of Newgrange to the imposing architecture of Norman castles, humans have relentlessly pushed the boundaries of what is possible.  By studying how humanity has adapted to every conceivable environment on this planet, and how different civilisations have attempted to understand the meaning of existence, we are, in fact, studying ourselves. Monuments and artefacts, ancient tombs and shipwrecks are just as much historical documents as the parchments and manuscripts of medieval Europe and Asia; they are pieces of the jigsaw of human history.  Archaeology is the study of these remains.

From its inception, archaeology has played a central role in the social sciences in universities throughout the world.  Archaeology contributes unique and important insights to the story of humankind, insights that are pieced together with evidence from a host of other specialists: palaeobotanists who reconstruct ancient environments; chemists who analyse food residues from ancient pots and from the stomachs of mummies and bog-bodies; physicists who measure atomic decay for radiocarbon dating; zoologists who study the animals we ate and those who ate us; symbologists who decode hidden meanings in inscriptions and art; osteoarchaeologists who study human bones, and linguists and historians who study the spoken word and written documents. So much of what we see in the past explains the world we live in today, everything from the food on our plates to the way we bury our dead, from international political boundaries to the languages spoken around the world, from how we project ourselves in public, the clothes and jewellery we wear, to the types of houses that we live in and the buildings where we worship.

Archaeology is both a social and a forensic science. To tell the story of the human past you must first find the pieces and, though the human footprint is remarkably durable, time does take its toll and archaeologists have had to develop a range techniques for locating and retrieving even the most ephemeral remains of the past – excavation, geophysics, geochemistry, fieldwalking and microscopic analysis.  But this is just the first step.  Equally complex is the challenge of making sense of it all, and because archaeology is about the remains left behind by ancient people, it draws on the theoretical frameworks of anthropology, ethnography and the social sciences. 

Archaeology in Galway

The Department of Archaeology in NUI Galway is to the forefront of Irish archaeology producing quality graduates and postgraduates employed across the full spectrum of the heritage profession in Ireland and abroad. No previous knowledge is required to take the subject. The First Year course involves four lectures per week and some tutorials and is a general introduction to the subject covering important aspects of both Irish and European archaeology as well as exploring the practice of archaeology. The coming together of teaching and research makes archaeology at university a unique experience: we don’t just impart knowledge, we create it. Exciting discoveries by researchers in Galway about the lifestyles of the earliest farming communities, geophysics at the great royal sites like Tara, and the art and architecture of the medieval world, add an extra dimension to the teaching programme and ensure that students are exposed to cutting edge research.

First Arts students choose four subjects (the subject groupings that apply are listed each year in the University Calendar and Prospectus and in the Faculty of Arts brochure). While there are logical subject combinations (e.g. archaeology-history; archaeology-geography), whatever combination of subjects you choose to study, a BA Degree will provide you with interpretative, analytical and communication skills of particular value in a wide range of career paths.

    

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