This course includes a placement or a year's study at a university abroad in your third year, giving you the opportunity to develop valuable professional and international experience. Our combined degree offers insights into the richness and variety of past human experience, covering a wide range of subjects and approaches. You will gain knowledge of a range of chronological periods, as well as develop your ability to analyse change over time and to compare cross-cultural and abstract concepts. At the University of Reading, our expertise in Archaeology starts with the earliest humans and spans up until the medieval period. The Department of Archaeology is ranked in the top 30 worldwide, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2017. We focus mainly on British, European and Near Eastern Archaeology, but also explore other regions across the world. You will learn about burial archaeology, material culture, bioarchaeology (including human remains), forensics, past environments (including geoarchaeology) and gender archaeology. Benefit from our dedicated Archaeology Building and specialist equipment, and learn in purpose-built laboratories. Our expertise in history covers a wide range of world regions – Europe and Africa to America, South Asia and the Middle East. Modules cover several periods, such as the Crusades, the 1960s, slavery in America, the Tudor monarchy, Cold War Berlin and medieval magic. In your first year, core modules will explore people, politics, and revolution. You will find out how people struggled for power in past societies, and learn about the culture and concepts those societies developed. In 2017, we achieved a 90% satisfaction score for the teaching on our courses in the National Student Survey. For more details, ask us at www.reading.ac.uk/question. We have an outstanding track record for student satisfaction, with 90-100% of students in the Department of Archaeology satisfied with the quality of their course in consecutive National Student Surveys (2010-2017), and 90% of students in the Department of History satisfied with the teaching on their course in the 2017 National Student Survey. Placements are strongly encouraged; opportunities are available working across the archaeological, heritage, planning and museum sectors including: research institutions, government organisations, local planning authorities, archaeological consultancies, field units, specialists and archivists. We also have links to specific areas of interest such as Cliveden, Historic England, Reading Museum, Reading Borough Libraries and the Museum of Rural English Life (MERL). Both the Archaeology and History departments have a dedicated member of staff in charge of placements, who can provide you with advice and support. If you are interested in studying abroad, you have the opportunity to spend a term at one of our partner universities in your second year. Recent options include the Universities of Malta, Aarhus (Denmark), Torún (Poland) and the University of Florida in Gainesville (U.S.A.). **Careers** This joint degree can lead to a variety of careers, including in commercial archaeology, heritage management and research, as well as disciplines such as teaching, business, publishing and marketing. You will gain a broad range of subject-specific and transferable skills spanning the humanities and sciences. We have long-established, excellent relationships with employers within the archaeology, heritage and related sectors. Our graduates are represented among the staff of major employers such as The British Museum, Oxford Archaeology, Wessex Archaeology, Museum of London Archaeology, Natural History Museum, Football Association, Marks and Spencer, MI5, Morgan Stanley and Siemens Financial Services. Each year a number of graduates pursue further, higher study following graduation.