University of Cyprus
University of Cyprus Tuition: 5125 eur

MSc in Digital Heritage and Landscape Archaeology

Information

Department
Department of History and Archaeology
Additional Information

The Master’s programme Digital Heritage and Landscape Archaeology of the University of Cyprus is a unique postgraduate program in the area of the E. Mediterranean that offers a concrete interdisciplinary academic course platform dealing with the application of spatial technologies and GeoInformatics in the wider domain of Digital Humanities. The program will act as an interface between New Technologies and the Humanities, exposing students to the latest spatial technological developments, providing hands-on training to different instrumentation and software, promoting a critical perspective of their application in terms of addressing archaeological- and historical- oriented questions and opening a dialogue between different disciplines.

The particular knowledge and skills will equip students to deal successfully with the existing challenging conditions of the competitive job market in the humanities and provide them with a solid base of knowledge to continue their research at an even more advanced level.

The Master’s programme Digital Heritage and Landscape Archaeology contests the mainstream of the traditional graduate studies in the Humanities and it is targeting the following objectives:

  • Open a dialogue and create a concrete platform of collaboration between the technological and humanities disciplines.
  • Develop a dynamic environment of theoretical and practical training of high-qualified students.
  • Provide synergies between research, museums, academia, public and private agencies, where students will be able to apply their knowledge and carry out their research.
  • Offer an international educational setting, where students and researchers will interact productively and enhance the level of the research.
  • Create a new generation of Archaeologists and Historians that can deal with the current trends of geospatial technologies and geo-information systems.

Intended learning outcomes

Through the specific graduate program, students will be able to:

  • Comprehend the relation between environment, climate, and anthropogenic activities of the past with an emphasis on the settlement patterns and the exploitation of environmental resources.
  • Obtain state-of-the-art skills that can be used in both field campaigns and laboratory analysis of surface survey and excavation results.
  • Understand how the different spatial analysis tools operate to address questions related to the habitation patterns and the intra- and inter-spatial distribution of finds.
  • Acquire the knowledge of the creation of maps (distribution of finds, geophysical measurements, geological and topographic maps, environmental maps, etc.) and comprehend the different spatial statistic algorithms to analyze them.
  • Familiarize themselves with the actual research questions and take a critical stand on the statistical and spatial statistical results.
  • Obtain a practical hands-on training of software (GIS, network analysis, statistical analysis, mapping, etc.) and instrumentation/hardware (geophysical instruments, drones, cameras, GPS, etc.) that will make them competitive in their future profession (academia, cultural resources management, practical archaeology, etc.)and boost their career opportunities.

Prospective Students

Prospective students must have completed an undergraduate degree in Archaeology, History, Anthropology, or other related fields of research (e.g. History of Art, Architecture, Geography, Geology, Topography, Environmental Sciences, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering).

Graduates of the University of Cyprus and Universities of Greece must have an undergraduate diploma with a cumulative grade of 6.5 or higher. The equivalent is required for graduates from other Universities.

Program

Structure of the program of study

The programme can be completed in a minimum of 3 semesters and is credited with 90 ECTS.

During the first two semesters, 5 compulsories and 1 elective courses will be taught, three per semester. Each course is credited with 10 ECTS, so the maximum number of ECTS per semester is 30.

During the third semester, 1 elective course will be taught. In order to complete the remaining 20 ECTS, students have to conduct a Master thesis (20 ECTS) during the third semester.

During the summer semester, students will have the option to follow a “practical training in field archaeology” (ARC 615: 10 ECTS), which will be an elective.

The 250 hours of 10 ΕCTS* per course are allocated as follows:

  • 39 hours for class attendance,
  • 26 hours for course preparatory reading,
  • 120 hours for study,
  • 65 hours for essay writing/project implementation.

* 1 ECTS = 25 working hours

Writing and defending the master’s thesis is credited with 20 ECTS, as follows:

  • 10 ΕCTS for the research phase,
  • 9 ΕCTS for the writing phase,
  • 1 ΕCTS for the thesis defense, in front of a three-membered committee.

Compulsory courses

  • Five (5) courses
  • Master Thesis

Constrain Electives

  • Two courses

ΟR

  • One course and a Practical training (Participation in Fieldwork Projects during the summer or 3rd semester)