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Prehistory and Early Archaeology (M.A.)

Programme name: Prehistory and Early Archaeology
Degree: Master of Arts (M.A.)
Standard period of study: 4 semesters
Start: Summer and winter semester
Degree programme options: Joint Honours MA in Prehistory and Early Archaeology (42 C); module packages: Prehistory and Early Archaeology as MA minor subjects (36 C/18 C)
Admission requirements for Joint Honours MA: Overview
Entrance requirements for module packages: Overview
Note for international applicants: For the enrolment at the Faculty of Humanities certified proficiency in German language is required!
Application: application procedure (application to the faculty of humanities)

Language of the programme: German

Subject description
The subject Prehistory and Early Archaeology is a historical cultural science. Working with material relics, it examines environments, economics and social organizational forms of early mankind as well as art, traditions and religion. Its aim is to analyze and reconstruct cultural-historical correlations and developments and development processes beyond the spatiotemporal framework. The working area of prehistory and early Archaeology begins with the appearance of man and ends temporally and spatially there where significant amounts of written sources appear in addition to archaeological findings. Omitted from the broad span of this working area are archaeological disciplines that have established themselves as independent subjects (Egyptology, Ancient American Studies, Assyrian Studies, Christian Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology).

Research foci in Göttingen
The courses offered by the Department especially comprise the time frame from the Neolithic Period of the High Middle Ages. The Old and Middle Stone Age as well as the archaeology of the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period are omitted to a vast extent. A research focus that has been in existence for a long time due to numerous third-party funding projects is in the area of Settlement Archaeology.

Programme structure
The Master's programme in Prehistory and Early Archaeology comprises five compulsory modules („Cultural History I“, „Cultural History II“, „Settlement Archaeology“, „Topography“, „Advanced Field Internship“) that are supplemented with modules in the area of the key competencies.

Occupational fields:
Graduates of the subject „Prehistory and Early Archaeology“ find their primary fields of occupation in institutions for the preservation of historical monuments and in museums. To a certain extent there is also a demand for graduates from private excavation companies in Germany and abroad. The occupational possibilities in universities and other research institutes are much fewer.

Language requirements:
Foreign language knowledge is not mandatory but indispensable for successful studies. Suggested is knowledge in at least two modern foreign languages and reading skills in two additional European languages.