Policy and mission
The Department of Archaeology is a very active player in scientific research, which is controlled by various internal research groups. These groups operate with mutual interaction and through partnerships with other research teams of the faculty or the university. The research production is diverse, original and innovative and is highly visible in the international scientific community, in part by the many successful methodological contributions to the discipline, a large number of publications and the organization of numerous scientific meetings. This research is regularly published in international journals and the broad geographical and thematic coverage of the department’s fieldwork projects leads to a significant impact on the international research community.
The reputation of the various teams in the field of landscape and settlement archaeology, through the development of major field projects with a wide geographical spread across NW Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Central Asia, is particularly strong. Among the notable methodological achievements we mention the development of cutting-edge technology in the field of archaeological aerial photography and remote sensing, geophysical prospections, non-invasive survey methods, geoarchaeological field work and GIS-based analyses. Often associated with the field work, there are many interdisciplinary studies and archaeometrical analyses of archaeological (and ancient artistic) objects. Especially in the field of ceramic studies in a broad sense the department takes a pioneer position. Several projects related to historical periods combine the intensive study of the material culture with the extraction of data from historical documents and texts.
In addition to its research mission, the Department of Archaeology plays also a central role in the provision of scientifically based education and training in archaeology at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, and provides supportive teaching in a number of other programs (among others History, Languages and Cultures, and Geography). Since 2014, the existing archaeological teaching program was completely renewed and adapted to new needs for the proper formation of future archaeologists. The new three-year bachelor's program in Archaeology, followed by a thoroughly changed one-year Master's program Archaeology has several strengths: a strong field training, attention to the relationship between man and landscape in the past, training in material studies, closely linking education with current research projects of the department, a strong interdisciplinary approach to archaeology (especially with bridges to historical research and geographical and natural sciences), a multi-perspectivist approach to all facets of the archaeological discipline and attention to the relationship of research to the management of archaeological heritage and its ethical and societal aspects.