Course Essentials
Congratulations on obtaining a place on the Archaeology BA at Canterbury Christ Church University! Over the next three years, you will go on a 3-million-year journey, from early prehistory through to the present day. My name is Dr Jay Ingate and I’m the Course Director for the degree. You may have already met me and the rest of the course team at an Open Day, but we’re all looking forward to getting to know you better over the next few years, starting with Welcome Week in September.
Jay Ingate
Course Director
Your Teaching Timetable
Teaching for your course will begin w.c 21 September 2026.
To help you plan your first few weeks, you can view an overview of the teaching activities for your course.
View your first semester teaching timetable.
On a mobile device, click the arrow next to “Search” at the top right of the page to view your timetable.
If your course is taught in groups, the overview will show activities for all groups. You will only need to attend sessions for your allocated group.
Once teaching begins, your individual timetable and group allocation will be available in MyTimetable provided you have completed online registration and created your computing account.
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Your Semester 1 Modules |
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The Archaeological Apprentice |
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Prehistoric Worlds |
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Success Modules - you will complete 3 of these 5 credit modules* |
*Success Modules
Your Journey to Success at CCCU is a compulsory success module. You'll then choose two more Success modules from a choice of eight.
These modules are completed online (asynchronous learning) and are not timetabled, so they won't appear in your teaching timetable.
Key dates
Academic Calendar: Semesters
View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2026-27 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays.
Welcome
We have a number of activities planned for Welcome Week to help you get to know the academic team and your fellow students.
We will introduce you to your timetable, Blackboard (our online repository of learning resources for your modules) and take you on a tour of the campus, our facilities (including the new laboratories), and some of the incredible historic sites that surround us.
We are a friendly and social community, and we always end the first week with a trip to the pub - we hope that you’ll be able to join us!
In Welcome Week you will also meet your Personal Academic Tutor who will support you one-to-one throughout your studies.
Until then, we encourage you to see what our staff and students have been up to over the summer on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook where we will be posting on our various fieldwork and research projects.
Kent is a county steeped in history and heritage, so why not come for a visit over the summer? We particularly recommend Dover Castle, Richborough Roman Fort, the beautiful Reculver on the north Kent coast, and of course Canterbury Cathedral and St Augustine’s Abbey. Archaeology is a deeply immersive subject and it’s never too early to explore what our county has to offer!
Getting started
You will be taking two core archaeology modules in your first term at University:
The first is The Archaeological Apprentice, in which you will you will examine key topics such as the evolution of the discipline, pioneering figures, landmark discoveries, career pathways, and the politics and ethics surrounding the management of archaeological resources and cultural heritage This is your first step on the road to becoming a professionally qualified archaeologist.
Alongside this, you will also be taking Prehistoric Worlds. In this module, you will examine archaeological discoveries across the globe, and chart the history of our species from our earliest Palaeolithic ancestors right through to the complex societies of the Iron Age - along the way you‘ll learn about our first encounters with fire, the domestication of plants and animals, and the introduction of metalworking. You’ll be introduced to key archaeological techniques and methods that are essential to understanding life in a world without written sources. This module then lays the groundwork for your introduction to historical archaeology in the second term, with the modules Trojans to Romans and Medieval Matters.
Your final credits in the first term will be made up of 3 ’Student Success Modules’, which are small modules, run centrally by the university, that sharpen your academic skills and open your mind to wider issues in society.
In your first term, you should expect to have 9 hours of direct teaching time a week on your archaeology modules, rising to 12 hours in the second term. There will be a mix of lectures, seminars, workshops, and practical sessions.
In the first year, our aim is to introduce you to the core skills of an archaeologist and the various specialisms you can pursue. This gives you a solid groundwork for your first archaeological fieldwork experience next summer.
Your Must Do Tasks
Once you have been invited to register for your course, there are some key tasks you'll need to complete to make sure you are ready to become a CCCU student.
Registration invitations are sent towards the end of August. We'll send yours to the email address you used when you applied, so please check this inbox regularly to make sure you don't miss any important information.
Pre-course reading
If you want to prepare for your archaeology studies by reading over the summer, we recommend any of these introductory books:
Greene, K. and Moore, T. (2010) Archaeology: An Introduction. Routledge.
Hunter, J. and Ralston, I. (eds) (2009) The Archaeology of Britain. Routledge.
Renfrew, C. and Bahn, P. (2020) Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice. Thames and Hudson.
We also recommend having a look at the following websites for new discoveries, stories and events in the world of archaeology:
International student success programme
International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.
Contact details
Have a question?