Programme Profile

Our thematic focus areas at a glance:

Late Middle Ages and modern era
Social and environmental archaeology
Experimental archaeology
Urban archaeology
Southern Germany
Pottery

In the distribution elective component, you can establish individual focus areas within your studies with courses from neighbouring disciplines like History, Heritage Conservation and Building Archaeology,Art History or Historical Geography.

Hands-on and reflective studies

A practical education has long been an essential component of studies in Bamberg. A unique feature of this programme is how it is embedded in the Institute for Archaeology, Heritage Conservation Studies and Art History, alongside the resulting opportunities to also acquire knowledge in the field of heritage conservation or building archaeology. The range of courses in the field of experimental archaeology must also be highlighted: these are made possible thanks to our cooperation with the ArchaeoCentrum Bayern-Böhmen. A relatively high proportion of the programme is dedicated to internships, providing students with experience on dig sites in addition to in research or educational projects. We combine critical self-reflection on academic research with the demands of professional practice.
Our focus areas cover the Late Middle Ages and modern era, in particular the research fields of social and environmental archaeology. Our geographical focus is mainly on southern Central Europe, but we also like to look far beyond this area with a specific topic in mind or for comparative purposes. Over the last semesters, we have dealt with church and urban archaeology, for example, or the archaeology of globalisation and the ‘modern world’ in our teaching and research.

Well-connected in Bamberg, Germany and Europe

It is important for us that our students participate in academic discourse. For this reason, the Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeology unit has an extremely large network.
For example, our cooperation with the nearby, multi-city University of Erlangen-Nuremberg gives you the opportunity to also attend courses on classical archaeology or Christian archaeology.
And in addition to that:

What’s known as the ‘doctoral triangle’ brings together outstanding master’s students and doctoral candidates working in medieval archaeology from Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Our chair has several contacts with excavation companies (some of which are led by graduates of the Bamberg Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeology programme).
Our chair has many Erasmus+ cooperations with universities in various European countries, such as Belgium, Estonia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and the Czech Republic.

Programme objectives

To consolidate the basic disciplinary knowledge gained in the bachelor’s studies in a sound way
To gain practical experience in digs and work on archaeological finds
To skilfully interpret archaeological finds, taking into account historical sources
To assess new finds against the backdrop of current research
To reflect critically on theory and practice