Archaeology research

Archaeological research at the Department for Continuing Education

Research in the Department includes:

Landscape archaeology (all periods)
Theory and material culture
Heritage and professional archaeology
Community, outreach and public engagement
Archaeology of early medieval northern Europe

Archaeology has been a focus of research at the Department for Continuing Education for nearly 50 years, under successive Directors of Study. In the 1970s the department played a key role in bringing current archaeological research into the lifelong learning and professional spheres. In the 1980s and 1990s a number of high-profile research projects and excavations inspired many people to take their studies further, and provided fieldwork opportunities and training.

In the 21st century our research has provided a context for postgraduate studies (see related courses), The emphasis in staff and student research continues to be on landscape archaeological approaches (of all periods), but these are by no means limited to the UK in scope. Professional archaeology and heritage have formed a strong focus, backed up by our training courses in the historic environment. We have also developed our emphasis on community archaeological research, public engagement and outreach. We maintain close links with the university museums and with the School of Archaeology at Oxford (which runs full-time postgraduate courses), with which we share many common interests.