You should be passionate about historical contexts and the study of material culture: What can structures, images, and objects reveal about the particularities of a culture?

You should also enjoy handling archaeological objects, both in private collections and on field trips, and undertaking self-organized trips to museums both in Germany and abroad as well as to excavation sites in the Mediterranean region.

A good visual memory and spatial awareness will help you succeed in this program of study. You should be interested in different cultures and languages and be prepared to learn modern and ancient foreign languages in order to be able to read academic literature and ancient sources.

This subject is a subject of specialization in the ALPHA (B.A.) degree program. You can also study this subject as a minor within the two-subject bachelor’s degree program.

Program structure

You will study the subject as an integrated two-subject bachelor’s degree program. The degree program always consists of an academic major and minor, which can be combined according to your interests or professional goals.

If you choose the subject as a minor, you will generally complete only a portion of the modules and classes taught to students of the major subject. As a result, you will focus on a selection from the content listed below.

Introduction to the topics and terminology of the subject

• Courses on the archaeology of the Greek and Roman worlds as well as their neighboring regions, initially as an overview in the basic modules, then with greater depth and specialized topics in the advanced modules:
  Architecture, painting, sculpture, the entire spectrum of archaeological finds, analyzed in connection to written sources with questions about living environments, art history, religious history, economic history, contact processes, changes in mentality, etc.

• Practical study components in parallel:
  • Field trips to museums in Germany and to excavation sites and museums abroad, especially in Italy, Greece, Turkey;
  • Large spectrum of practical exercises
    (sketching courses, digital archaeology, exhibition practice, practical professional orientation)
• To a limited extent, language acquisition: Obligatory introductory Latin courses (if you did not take Latin in school), all other languages are optional, whether modern or ancient.

Specializations

The only subject-specific compulsory courses you need to complete are those included in the introduction to the subject. In the remaining program structure, the modules provide you with a framework (Greek and Roman worlds; architecture and sculpture), but you can freely choose your individual courses from among the changing topics after the first semester. This allows you to design your program of study independently.

You have even more options when it comes to the practical portion of your studies.

You can focus on one the following areas:

• Fieldwork (excavation, prospection)
• Museum work & exhibitions
• Documentation (analog/sketching or digital)

Stay abroad

Would you like to live abroad for a semester or a year? Do you want to learn another language and get to know a new culture? Or gain a different perspective on your particular subject? A stay abroad provides you with the perfect opportunity to achieve this and is possible with every degree program – either self-organized or by taking advantage of one of the popular exchange programs. This is made possible by various cooperation agreements and partnerships with foreign universities.

For more information on this topic, please visit our websites on studying abroad. Visit our student exchange platform for an overview of cooperating universities in your field.

This program of study does not require you to spend time abroad, but you nevertheless have the opportunity to do so.

The recommended study abroad period for this program of study is after the 4th semester.

Internships

This program of study does not include a mandatory internship. However, voluntary internships are a great way to gain insight into a professional field.

An internship allows you to discover whether everyday life in a particular occupation suits your career expectations and interests. You can gain qualifications for a professional field and acquire important professional and personal skills to start a career. An internship helps you both shape your career path, and mold the remainder of your course sequence – in particular by selecting specializations that suit your practical experience.

You can find further information and relevant internships on the Career Service website.

The 4th and 5th semesters are recommended by the department as the best period for an internship.

As a graduate of Archaeology, you will have acquired the following skills:

• Description, interpretation, sharing of subjects and questions from classical archaeology
• Oral presentation including reports about tours and academic lectures
• Written work from term papers to academic publications
• Interaction with visual media

Potential professional fields:

• University – entry-level academic staff member (teaching, research, academic self-administration)
• Research institutes, especially the German Archaeological Institute –
  graduate assistant or advisor (research, public relations, editor, project management)
• Museums – entry-level intern (Volontär*in) and later as a curator (research, outreach coordinator/educator)

Other potential career paths:

• Preservation of historical monuments, e.g., state archaeology
• Excavation companies
• (Archeological) publishing houses, such as the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (comprising Zabern, Theiss), or media (e.g., ZDF)
• Science management, e.g., JGU’s staff units
• Tourism

IMPORTANT: In general, a consecutive master’s degree is usually required for transitioning to a job at a university, in research and education, and for jobs in science-adjacent fields.

Not sure what to do after graduation? Don’t worry!

A university degree generally does not prepare you for a single profession but qualifies you for a wide range of career paths – for example, in research, in a typical profession related to your field of study, or in one of many other academic fields.

This is why career orientation is also part of your studies. Gaining practical experience is key, and you can do so through internships, working student positions, part-time jobs or voluntary work, for example.

JGU’s Career Service will support you throughout the entire process with information, advice, workshops and numerous events – from career orientation and working on your profile and skills to finding your dream job and successfully applying for it.