Christ's College - University of Cambridge

Archaeology and Anthropology

University Website: http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk.uk

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/archanth/index.html

Faculty of Human, Social and Political Sciences: http://www.hsps.cam.ac.uk/

Director of Studies: Dr Susan Bayly

Other Fellows in the subject: Dr Isabelle Vella Gregory 

Introduction

Christ's College regularly admits students to study Archaeology and Anthropology. The College does not have fixed subject quotas for admission in any subject but a typical first-year entry in Archaeology & Anthropology would be between two and four students. For most students, the Part I course in the first year involves the study of all three subject areas:

• Biological Anthropology
• Social Anthropology, and
• Archaeology.

We also normally have students following each of the self-contained two-year Part II courses in which students specialize in ONE of the above subjects, but may also if they wish 'borrow' papers from other fields of study, i.e. they may do a certain amount of interdisciplinary work in one of the other two subjects. Cambridge is distinctive in combining three constituent disciplines (Archaeology, Biological Anthropology and Social Anthropology) during the first year of the undergraduate course (known as Part I of the University's Tripos system). This provides a comprehensive introduction to the three subjects and their related techniques, and forms the bedrock of a student's later specialisation.

So there are 2 pathways for our first-year students. Most students study each of the three constituent disciplines: archaeology, social anthropology and biological anthropology, with a fourth option chosen from the following:

• An interdisciplinary paper combining perspectives from archaeology, social anthropology and biological anthropology;
• Papers shared with the Faculty of Social and Political Science, such as Introduction to Politics; Sociology; or Social Psychology
• A paper introducing Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures.

Although the subject is a very flourishing one in Cambridge , by comparison with the biggest science and arts fields Archaeology & Anthropology is a moderately sized subject numerically. As a consequence, not all Colleges have a Teaching Fellow to act as Director of Studies for students in the subject. However, Christ's College has Dr Susan Bayly as a Fellow of the College. Dr Bayly is a Social Anthropologist with a senior teaching post in the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology. She has done research in India , Vietnam and France, and acts as Director of Studies for all Christ's students in the four subject areas of Biological Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Archaeology and Ancient Near East. The subject is also represented in the College through the work of other senior members past and present including Research Fellows and Teaching Fellows in such subjects as Biological and Social Anthropology, Classical Archaeology, and Egyptology.

Christ's Archaeology and Anthropology students come from every kind of background both in the UK and from overseas and are active in every area of College life from sport and student journalism to music, drama and community work.

The University Course

Archaeology and Anthropology is concerned with the study of human beings in the broadest sense — their evolution, behaviour, adaptation and social life. The course (called a Tripos in Cambridge) is divided into two sections. In the first-year Part I Archaeology & Anthropology course, students explore the full scope of the subject from the molecular to the social. It asks how specialists in each of our three fields study humans:

• through their material remains (Archaeology);
• through evidence of their physical evolution and interaction with the natural environment (Biological Anthropology);
• and through observation of everyday life among contemporary peoples throughout the globe (Social Anthropology).

For students with an interest in Ancient Egypt and the region once known as Mesopotamia, 2008/09 saw the introduction of another Part I course offering the study of the ancient languages, archaeology and history of these two important areas of the ancient world. The Ancient Near East course offers the opportunity to learn ancient languages (Middle Egyptian and/or Akkadian) from the first year, together with a broad introduction to the history and cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia.  In the second and third years, students will combine advanced language learning with in-depth study of archaeology and history. Opportunities for fieldwork and museum projects will provide practical experience. 

The Cambridge Faculty

The Cambridge Faculty Cambridge is one of the liveliest and most respected centres in the world for the study of our three core subjects of Social Anthropology, Biological Anthropology and Archaeology. Students who come to Christ's College to study Archaeology and Anthropology have full access to all the facilities of the Faculty including its library, laboratories, museum, teaching facilities etc. Our students come from all parts of the country and from every type of school and background and have taken a wide variety of subjects in their final years at school; we also have many overseas students.

The College and College Teaching

The College provides students with their main source of further academic as well as pastoral support; for many students it is also the centre of their social life and leisure time. The College Director of Studies helps and guides students throughout their course. It is the Director of Studies who arranges each student's individual teaching through the supervision system.

Supervisions involve one-to-one or small-group teaching with specialists coming both from within and beyond the College; a typical supervision in Archaeology & Anthropology is a one-hour-long discussion of a student's weekly written work and reading on a given topic, as well as an airing of the student's thoughts and questions about the content of relevant lectures, practicals, etc. In a typical first-year supervision, each student will be provided with a reading list and an agreed topic for the week's essay, the topics generally reflect the lectures being given at that point in the year.

In the case of Social Anthropology, the essay questions could include:

• Is religion found in every human society and is it always or generally a 'conservative' force in people's lives?
• What explains the many different ways that people act and transact in markets? What is money really for? What kinds of things can't be bought or given value in cash terms?
• What are humans really doing/saying/thinking when they take part in rituals (in such places as churches and shrines, but also elsewhere, parades, rallies, sports arenas)?
• What is nationalism; does it differ in important ways from 'ethnicity', and how do anthropologists explain its force in the modern world?
• Is 'the family' the most important tie or connection we have to others? What can we understand from learning about what people in different societies mean when they say they are 'related' to others?
• In what sense does law and order exist in a society without law-courts and written lawcodes?

In Archaeology and in Biological Anthropology there are also regular supervisions involving the writing of essays on agreed topics on the basis of current lectures and a reading list provided by the supervisor. (Please see the Part I Guide for further details.) Our students generally have a total of 12 supervisions per 8-week term, spread across the three fields of Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, and Social Anthropology. Christ's places particular emphasis on the value of the supervision system as a central element in our students' educational experience; the Director of Studies makes a point of helping our students coordinate their supervision work with the University seminars and lectures which they attend in the Archaeology and Anthropology Faculty. Our students themselves rate the personal teaching in supervisions as a particular strength of the Cambridge course.

Students in Archaeology and Anthropology also have opportunities to deepen their knowledge and interest in the subject through such experiences as archaeological training digs and fieldtrips, and above all through the chance to do independent project work. Christ's College endeavours to help students take advantage of these opportunities wherever possible; some special funds exist to assist students wishing to travel in order to research dissertations and project topics. Recently Christ's Archaeology and Anthropology students have visited China, Peru, Namibia and India to work on projects such as the problems of child health care in southern Africa and the mapping of monkey species in remote mountain environments of Asia. Christ's students also benefit from the chance to interact on an informal basis with students in the College reading such subjects as Social and Political Sciences, History, Classics, Biological Sciences, and History & Philosophy of Science. For example, Archaeology and Anthropology students have traditionally been welcome participants in the informal evening seminars and speaker meetings arranged by the College History Society (the Seeley Society) and the College Natural Science Society (the Darwin Society).

A frequently asked question: are there any particular school subjects required for admission?

No particular subjects at A level (or equivalent) are required for Archaeology & Anthropology. It may be helpful if your subjects relate to the area of the course in which you are hoping to specialise, eg Biology for Biological Anthropology, History or Sociology for Social Anthropology, Geography for Archaeology etc. However, most subjects are relevant and a mix of science and arts subjects is positively welcomed.

Applying to Cambridge

In addition to nominating Cambridge as one of the selected universities on the UCAS application form, it is also desirable to choose a College of preference (the alternative is to submit an open application and allow a College preference to be chosen for you by computer). The choice of a College can seem difficult for those without access to advice from current or past Cambridge students. It can be an important one, however, in that different Colleges have different characters. The University Admissions Prospectus will give you an idea of the history, size, and teaching strengths of the various Colleges. The best way to get a sense of their location, atmosphere and facilities, however, is to visit Cambridge, preferably on a College Open Day (a number of which are held each year in Christ's).

Christ's College does not have fixed quotas of places for different subjects, and the exact numbers admitted in any one year will depend on the strengths of the fields of applicants in the various subjects. Applicants are usually interviewed in November or December, although candidates who apply early enough may be offered the possibility of interviews in late September. Normally applicants will have one short general tutorial interview of about 10-15 minutes, and a separate subject interview of around 20-30 minutes. Applicants may also have interviews at a second College whilst they are in Cambridge: these are arranged so that in the event that their first-choice College should have an especially strong field of applicants in that particular year their application may be considered by other Colleges via the inter-College pooling system and usually without any need for them to return to Cambridge a second time in January for further interviews.

The nature of the subject interview will vary depending on students' mix of school subjects and area interest (i.e. Social or Biological Anthropology or Archaeology, though the College recognises that applicants may not have a firm preference, and may not have much in-depth knowledge of these fields). Candidates are normally asked to provide samples of written work for evaluation before the interview. Interviewers seek to assess candidates' potential for successful work in Archaeology and Anthropology and will therefore be particularly interested in exploring students' range of interests and attainments. It is recognised that candidates' school experiences will differ widely, and this is taken into account in the interview process.

Candidates offered a place at Christ's will generally be offered it conditionally on their performance in school-leaving examinations. For those who are taking A levels our usual offer requires A*AA, or sometimes AAA, grades, though as in all subjects candidates who narrowly miss their offer may still be admitted if places are available.

A point worth making is that we only make offers to candidates that we believe they have a realistic chance of achieving. Our aim is to admit the best students regardless of their background.

A small proportion – usually up to 10% – of our offers each year are “2E Offers”, i.e., we require only 2 E grades at A-level (or the equivalent basic passing grades in whichever qualifications the candidate is taking). Only candidates who have exceptionally strong academic achievements to date and who perform very strongly at their interview in Cambridge will be considered for a 2E Offer. Such offers are not intended as an easy option for those who have special circum­stances, which we would take into account when setting a standard offer instead. 2E Offers are never given to applicants who have been interviewed overseas.

Further Information

If you are able to come to a College Open Day, we will gladly tell you more about the College and the course. If you are not able to come, we will be happy to answer any queries you may have which are not covered by the normal literature. Please address any such general enquiries by letter to the Admissions Tutor, Christ's College, Cambridge, CB2 3BU or by email to: admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk. For further subject-related information, including reading lists and other materials, or to answer questions which are not covered in this leaflet or in the standard Cambridge University and Christ's College Admissions Prospectuses, potential applicants are welcome to make contact with our Director of Studies Dr Susan Bayly at Christ's College, Cambridge CB2 3BU or via email: sbb10@cam.ac.uk.