Course description
This is a one-year intensive course leading to the degree of Master of Science. It is suitable for graduates in biological science, archaeology or archaeological science. The course provides a training in the skills relevant to biomolecular archaeology including: a basic training in archaeology for biological science graduates and in biochemistry for archaeology graduates, advanced training in biomolecular archaeology techniques, and comprehensive training in the application of biomolecular studies in biological archaeology. The aim of the course is to train biomolecular archaeologists for research and professional positions. The teaching draws on staff experience in the application of biomolecular techniques in archaeology ranging from studies of charred plant remains, through animal bones to human skeletal remains.
NERC Studentships
We have three fully-funded studentships available from NERC for the MSc in Biomolecular Archaeology. All home and EU applicants to this degree programme will be automatically considered for these studentships.
Please contact Prof Andrew Chamberlain for further details.
Staff and research interests:
-Dr Umberto Albarella, Zooarchaeology, ethnoarchaeology, Britain and the Mediterranean.
-Prof Andrew Chamberlain, Human remains, palaeodemography.
-Dr Paul Halstead, Archaeozoology, Greece, ethnoarchaeology.
-Prof Glynis Jones, Archaeobotany, early agriculture.
Course Structure and Assessment
Taught Modules
-Biomolecules and Genomes (For archaeology graduates only: essential biology and biological chemistry; the structure and function of proteins and amino acids; transcription, transition, mutation and recombination of nucleic acids and genes; lipids and carbohydrates)
-Scientific approaches in Archaeology (For biology graduates only: basic concepts, methods and problems in archaeology; bioarchaeological approaches to the study of human evolution, past societies and economies; formation of the archaeological record)
-Introduction to Biomolecular Archaeology (Materials, methods and strategies; biological preservation; extraction of biomolecules; DNA techniques; protein, lipid and carbohydrate techniques; sex and kinship, phylogenetics, palaeopathology, domestication)
-Biomolecular Archaeology Techniques (Technical and laboratory skills; DNA extraction, PCR, cloning and sequencing techniques; protein immunological analysis; mass spectrometry)
-Early Subsistence and Society (Human evolution, bipedalism, tool-making, food-sharing, hunting and language, the colonisation of Eurasia, the emergence of modern humans, cultural elaboration during the Upper Palaeolithic; the domestication of plants and animals)
-Practical Bioarchaeology (Identification and analysis of plant remains; identification of animal bones and analysis of age and sex structure; sex and age assessment of human bones, metrics and population affinities, demographic analysis and population
A Dissertation on a topic of the student´s own choosing.
Assessment is on the basis of examinations, essays, laboratory reports and a dissertation.
