Research degrees

Find a supervisor

Programmes

Graduate School Office

We encourage all our students to get involved and take an active role in our academic community and there will be many opportunities for our students to become personally involved with the research being conducted in the Department.

Professor Alan Outram, Head of Archaeology

Postgraduate research

Archaeology at Exeter is currently involved in exciting research in Britain and around the world. We have active fieldwork and research projects in Britain, Europe, South America, North America, Central Asia and South Asia.

Get to know a few of our PhD students;

Emily Johnson

Thesis title: Bone fat processing and butchery practices in the Linearbandkeramik culture
Supervisors: Prof. Alan Outram, Dr. Linda Hurcombe
Funding: ERC Advanced Grant, NeoMilk Project

My supervisor is one of the main reasons that I continued my studies at Exeter. He has always supported my research and given me great opportunities, as well as being world renowned in my field of study. He really believed I was PhD-ready when I really wasn’t sure myself, and was instrumental in introducing me to the ERC NeoMilk project who fund my PhD. I can count on him to make time to see me whenever I need.

David Stone

Thesis title: Mutually Assured Construction? A study of West Saxon and Mercian political, economic and military co-operation in the ninth and tenth centuries
Supervisors: Prof. Oliver Creighton, Dr. Levi Roach

Exeter has provided a fantastic research atmosphere to do my PhD. Not only do I get a great level of support from staff in both the Archaeology Department and Centre for Medieval Studies, but both also run a full calendar of events, seminars, lectures and visits. The level of organisation in the post-grad community is also brilliant, with regular opportunities for us to share research, practice presenting and deliver papers.

Daiana Travassos Alves

Thesis title: Plant management in Pre-Columbian Amazonia from an archaeobotanical approach of Tapajó culture
Supervisors: Prof Jose Iriarte, Dr Marisa Lazzari
Funding: CAPES (Brazilian Coordination for Research Funding), ERC Advanced Grant- PAST (Pre-Columbian Amazon Scale-Transformations) Project

My interest in working with my supervisor first motivated me to choose Exeter for my PhD. He is a lead researcher on archaeobotanical studies in Amazonia and developed exciting projects over there. His support and PAST project funding have been crucial for my study development. Additionally, the archaeobotany laboratory has a large reference collection of phytoliths and starch grains from lowland South America and the facilities to carry out these micro botanical remains. Exeter has an instigating research culture, especially the interaction among PhD students through researcher development programme and post-grad meetings, which inspires me to improve my research skills.

Matt Knight

Thesis title: The Intentional Destruction and Deposition of Bronze Age Metalwork in South West England
Supervisors: Dr. Linda Hurcombe (Exeter); Dr. Joanna Brück (Bristol)
Funding: AHRC South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership

Having already studied my BSc and MA here, I already knew Exeter offered a brilliant and supportive research department, making it a clear choice to undertake my PhD. The stunning campus is a relaxed place to work, and the resources available are excellent. It was easy to integrate into the research community here.

Mandy Kingdom

Thesis title: The Past People of Exeter: Health, Social Standing and Well-being in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period
Supervisors: Dr. Catriona McKenzie, Prof. Oliver Creighton
Funding: AHRC

Exeter is at the centre of my project, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. As I was one of Exeter’s first MSc. students in Bioarchaeology, to continue to be part of the growth and development of this discipline in the department is exciting. There is support from all members of staff and lots of opportunities to get involved from post grad presentations to departmental seminars and the annual excavations; enabling you to share your ideas, learn from others and pass on your own experience.

Research in the Archaeology Department covers human origins through to the recent past, and is characterised by theoretically informed field-based approaches and a strong commitment to methodological innovation.

Our staff and research students work in Britain, mainland Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America, and in the last research Assessment Exercise (2008) we were ranked second in the UK for World Leading and Internationally Excellent Research in Archaeology (based on the amount of 3* and 4* research).

Our research covers a wide range of areas, these broad headings give an indication of our special interests:

Archaeology of the Americas
Bioarchaeology
Experimental archaeology
Landscape archaeology
Material culture
Wetlands, coastal and maritime landscapes

Explore our research centres and research projects to find out more about our current research topics.

Visit our Archaeology staff profiles for details on individual staff research interests and publications.

Supervisors - all students have a primary and a secondary supervisor who provide regular, high quality advice, support and direction in their academic endeavours. You will work closely with your supervisors over three to four years (full time PhD) or six to seven (part-time PhD) to develop, investigate and write-up a project at the cutting edge of theological research.

Visit our staff profiles for more information about individual research interests or use the search box on the right of this page to find a supervisor.

Mentor - each student will also be assigned a mentor who will take on a pastoral role and mediate on any problems that arise during the period of study. Your mentor will keep in regular contact and will provide background stability and support.

Graduate School Office - the College of Humanities has a dedicated Graduate School Office that supports our postgraduate research students during their study with us. The Office promotes intellectual and social contact between research students in all our disciplines to foster a vibrant research community within the College.

Our current PhD students

We're proud of the research carried out by our PhD students. There are currently around 50 PhD students in the Department, many of whom maintain an online personal profile detailing their research activities. Follow the links below to find out more about them and their research projects.

Student	Research title	First supervisor	Second supervisor
Daiana Alves	'Plant management in Pre-Columbian Amazonia from an archaeobotanical approach of Tapajó culture'	Professor José Iriarte	Dr Marisa Lazzari
Kathryn Bonnet	The Kandyan blacksmith: an assessment of repertoire and skills using archaeological fieldwork, ethnometallurgy, microstructural analysis and experimental re-enactment	Dr Gillian Juleff	Professor Sharada Srinivasan
Cynthia Bradley	Remaking the Mazeway: a study of the mortuary and skeletal evidence from the Ancestral Pueblo site of Wallace Ruin.	Professor José Iriarte	Professor Alan Outram
Gabrielle Collins	Communicating Climate Change: An Investigation into the Public Presentation of Climate Change at Museums and Archaeological Sites.	Dr Linda Hurcombe	Robert Van De Noort
Gillian Cuthbert	Enriching the Neolithic: The Forgotten People of the Barrows.	Dr Catriona McKenzie	Dr Linda Hurcombe
Jonas De Souza	Pathways to Power in the Southern Brazilian Highlands: Architectonic Diversity, Function, and Change in Taquara/Itararé Ceremonial Centres	Professor José Iriarte	Dr Marisa Lazzari
Hayley Foster	A Zooarchaeological study of changing butchery practices and species exploitation: social and fashionable changes in dining habits in Medieval castles in England.	Professor Alan Outram	Professor Oliver Creighton
James Glover	Chipped-stone technology and social identities in Mesolithic Cornwall: how social practices and agency of the lithic chaîne opératoire reflect identity in the micro and macro scale.	Dr Linda Hurcombe	Dr Marisa Lazzari
Regina Gonda	Pre-Columbian Amazon-Scale Transformations.	Professor José Iriarte	Dunia H. Urrego
David Gould	Rabbit Warrens of South West England: landscape context, socio-economic significance and symbolism	Professor Oliver Creighton	Stuart Prior
Ethan Greenwood	Wealdon Iron Research Group Collaborative Doctoral Studentship	Dr Gillian Juleff	Dr Robert Morkot
Kaushalya Gunasena	Cultural, Technological and Ideological Exchange: Sri Lanka – South India Interaction from a Personal Adornment Perspective during the Proto-historic to Early Historic Periods	Dr Gillian Juleff	Professor Sharada Srinivasan
Lautaro Hilbert	past human impact on Amazonian forests	Professor José Iriarte	Dr Marisa Lazzari
Emmet Jackson	The Irish contribution to the study of Egyptology in the nineteenth century: with specific reference to Lady Harriet Kavanagh.	Dr Robert Morkot	Dr Marisa Lazzari
Emily Johnson	Domesticated animals in the LBK: butchery practices and the nature of meat and fat exploitation	Professor Alan Outram	Dr Linda Hurcombe
Mandy Kingdom	The Past People of Exeter: Health, Social Standing and Well-being in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.	Dr Catriona McKenzie	Professor Oliver Creighton
Madeleine Knibb	The Significance of field-names in a diverse historic rural landscape.	Professor Stephen Rippon	Professor Oliver Creighton
Matthew Knight	The intentional destruction and deposition of Bronze Age metalwork in South-West England – an assessment of prehistoric personhood and the relationship between people and objects.	Dr Linda Hurcombe	Joanna Brück
Alice Oriana La Porta	Stone Projectile Point Technology: does it exist in the Western European Middle Palaeolithic? Techno-functional analysis of Middle Palaeolithic convergent tools.	Dr Linda Hurcombe	Robert Hosfield
Malene Lauritsen	Exeter from fort to city: a faunal perspective	Professor Alan Outram	Professor Stephen Rippon
Xuelei Li	Fox Trails through time	Professor Alan Outram	Dr Linda Hurcombe
Yu Li	The Formation, Development and Transmission of Southwest China's Iron Smelting Technology	Dr Gillian Juleff	Dr Marisa Lazzari
Carole Lomas	Early Medieval Churches in Somerset	Professor Stephen Rippon	Professor Oliver Creighton
David Marshall	Lines on a landscape – the divisions of space on the human landscape of the Isle of Wight	Professor Stephen Rippon	Professor Oliver Creighton
Sabine Martin	Functional study of Middle Paleolithic vein-quartz industries from the European sites of Payre (France) and from Atapuerca's Grand Dolina (Spain): Elaboration of a repository for diagnostic stigmata.	Dr Linda Hurcombe	Professor Bruce Bradley
Debanjan Mitra	Study of Cognitive Implications on Stone-tool Technology of the Belan, Son and Middle Ganga Valleys, India from circa 60kyr – 10kyr	Professor Bruce Bradley	Professor Anindya Sinha
Richard Nevell	Castle slighting in England and Wales from the 11th to 15th centuries.	Professor Oliver Creighton	Professor Stephen Rippon
Claire Nicholas	Enabling an indigenous population to regain access to their lost heritage and knowledge	Dr Robert Morkot	Dr Marisa Lazzari
Eddie Procter	Topographical legacies of monasticism: evolving perceptions and realities of monastic estate landscapes in the south eastern Welsh Marches	Professor Stephen Rippon	Professor Oliver Creighton
Joanne Pye	Place names in the Cornish landscape.	Professor Stephen Rippon	Professor Oliver Creighton
Bruce Rusch	Cultural settlement pattern behaviour reconstruction of the Potter Paleoindian site and its relationship to the Israel River Complex sites using lithic analysis.	Professor Bruce Bradley	Professor José Iriarte
Leonard Sidebottom	Heritage of city walls.	Professor Oliver Creighton	Professor Stephen Rippon
Jemma Singleton	Connecting the Dots with Rock Art; A regional study of rock art sites in South India to identify the cultural interaction between humans and the landscape.	Dr Linda Hurcombe	Professor Sharada Srinivasan
Sarah Stainer	From Tinners to Antiquarians: An archaeological analysis of the evidence for medieval and later attitudes toward prehistoric features on southern Dartmoor.	Professor Stephen Rippon	Dr Hajnalka Herold
David Stone	Mutually Assured Construction? A study of West Saxon and Mercian political, economic and military co-operation in the ninth and tenth centuries	Professor Oliver Creighton	Dr Levi Roach
Belinda Tibbetts	Foetal and infant skeletal palaeopathology as an indicator of maternal health and population stress.	Dr Catriona McKenzie	Professor Alan Outram
Philip Treveil	Local and regional variation in landscape character: the significance of the Tamar Valley.	Professor Stephen Rippon	Professor Oliver Creighton
Robert Waterhouse	The Landscape Archaeology of Islands in physically and culturally remote zones	Professor Stephen Rippon	Dr Hajnalka Herold

Funding opportunities available to students on our research degree programmes in Archaeology:*

Award	Value	Application deadline	Description
2020/21 PhD Global Excellence Studentship - College of Humanities	International tuition fees and an annual maintenance allowance at current Research Council rate of £15,009 per year (2019/20 rate)	Mon 2nd Mar 2020	Exeter’s College of Humanities is offering one fully-funded PhD Global Excellence Studentship (open to International candidates only) for study commencing in September 2020, across any of its areas of research expertise.
College of Humanities PhD Studentship	UK/EU tuition fees and an annual maintenance allowance at current Research Council rate of £15,009 per year (2019/20 rate)	Mon 2nd Mar 2020	Exeter’s College of Humanities is offering 1 fully funded PhD studentships (open to UK/EU candidates only) for study commencing in September 2020, across any of its areas of research expertise.
Canadian Centennial Scholarships for current Canadian Postgraduates studying in the UK	£5,000.00	Sun 8th Mar 2020	Awards for study for Canadian Students who have already commenced their multi-year studies in the UK
Al-Qasimi Exeter-Tunisia PhD Studentship in Arab and Islamic Studies, Islamic Studies, Middle East Politics or Palestine Studies.	International Tuition fees and an annual maintenance allowance at current Research Council rate of £15,009 (for (2019/20 entry) per year	Wed 1st Apr 2020	The University of Exeter is offering one Al-Qasimi Exeter-Tunisia PhD Studentship. This studentship, including full tuition fees and maintenance allowance, is available only to Tunisian nationals or individuals who have graduated from a Tunisian University.Tuition fees and an annual maintenance allowance will be at current Research Council rate of £15,009 (for (2019/20 entry) per year.
Colciencias (Colombia)	Fully funded	Fri 1st May 2020	The University and Colciencias have agreed an MOU to promote long-term collaboration between the two organisations with the purpose of encouraging Colombian students to pursue Doctorate level studies.
Sanctuary Scholarship	Full tuition fee waiver plus annual living cost grant	Mon 18th May 2020	The Sanctuary Scholarship scheme enables individuals seeking asylum and refugees who are not able access student finance to study at the University of Exeter.
Sports Scholarship Scheme	up to £3,000 plus additional support services worth £3,500	Sun 31st May 2020	Sports scholarships are awarded to students of outstanding sporting ability who show evidence of achievement at international level in their chosen sport.
US Department of Education - Federal Student Loan	Variable	Tue 30th Jun 2020	The federal government offers a number of financial aid programs, including these loans, to help pay for your education.
Class of 2020 Progression Award	10% reduction in first year tuition fee	There is no application for this award. You will be automatically considered.	A tuition fee discount for current University of Exeter students completing a full degree in 2020 and progressing directly to a standalone postgraduate course in September 2020.
University of Exeter Alumni Scholarship	10% reduction in first year tuition fee	There is no application for this award. You will be automatically considered.	A tuition fee discount for all University of Exeter alumni who start a postgraduate degree with us from September 2020.
Fulbright Scholarships: Postgraduate Student Awards	Full tuition waiver for one year of Masters / PhD & living stipend	Deadline passed (Tue 8th Oct 2019)	Our UK Partnership award with Fulbright is available for Masters or Doctoral students who are USA or dual USA:UK citizens wishing to study at the University. The award takes the form of a tuition fee waiver for the first year of graduate study (either Masters or PhD) and a living stipend. We also accept scholars in receipt of Fulbright 'Open Awards' (also referred to as the All Disciplines Award).
Commonwealth PhD Scholarships 2020 (for least developed countries and fragile states)	Tuition fees, approved fares and stipend	Deadline passed (Wed 30th Oct 2019)	Commonwealth PhD Scholarships are for candidates from the least developed countries and fragile states in the Commonwealth, put forward by various nominating bodies, for full-time doctoral study at a UK university.
Said Foundation Scholarships	Varies	Deadline passed (Fri 1st Nov 2019)	The Said Foundation offers around thirty postgraduate scholarships to nationals from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Syria who are also permanent residents in these target countries.
2020/21 Commonwealth Split-site Scholarships (low and middle income countries)	Visiting scholar tuition fee, approved fares, and personal maintenance	Deadline passed (Wed 6th Nov 2019)	Commonwealth Split-site Scholarships are for PhD candidates from low and middle income Commonwealth countries, to spend up to 12 months at a UK university as part of their doctoral studies in their home country.
China Scholarship Council and University of Exeter PhD Scholarships	Full tuition fees and Living Allowance	Deadline passed (Mon 6th Jan 2020)	The University of Exeter alongside the China Scholarship Council is pleased to offer fully funded studentship available for September 2020 entry.
ESRC SWDTP +3 and 1+3 studentships: Health and Wellbeing, for 2020/21 entry	£15,009 per annum for 2019-20	Deadline passed (Tue 21st Jan 2020)	ESRC SWDTP funded studentships available for September 2020 entry. For eligible students, the studentship will provide funding of fees and a stipend which is currently £15,009 per annum for 2019-20.

_{*Please note that if you have submitted an application to one of our MPhil/PhD programmes you will not automatically be considered for funding. You must submit a separate funding application, including all required supporting documents, via the link provided in each award to be considered for that award.}

The College of Humanities works closely with the University’s Career Zone to help you gain the skills, experience and expertise employers are looking for. There are a wide range of opportunities to enhance your employability, along with the support you need to make important career decisions.

We have our own Employability Officer who works to develop close links with employers and arranges careers events.

Employers

Fyssen Foundation
Heritage Lottery Fund
Isle of Wight Council
National Trust
Pendle Borough Council
UCL Institute of Neurology
University of Exeter

Occupations

Conservation Assistant
Development Officer
Director
DNA Technician
Fyssen Postdoctoral Fellow
Honorary Research Fellow
Research Officer
Researcher
Senior Archaeologist
Service Support Officer

*Employment destination information sourced from the DLHE surveys 2013/14 and 2012/13

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