Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology

You must complete 30 credits, including 24 credits of coursework (normally eight three-credit courses) and six credits for the MA thesis, AMNE 599. All courses are normally at the 500-level and selected from graduate course offerings in the Department.

You may choose courses according to regulations as set out by AMNE and are strongly encouraged to do so in consultation with your Thesis Supervisor and Graduate Program Advisor to ensure all program requirements are met.

Please note that, as a student in the MA in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, at least 12 of your credits at the 500 level must be in courses in AMNE. Additionally, you must complete the archaeological fieldwork requirement.

By the end of your MA in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, you must have fulfilled the archeological fieldwork requirement.

This requirement can be fulfilled by any of three means:

1. The completion of AMNE 595.
2. Participation in another field project undertaken during the program provided that it has been approved in advance by the Chair of Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies and/or the DGS. This includes but is not limited to excavation, museum work or conservation, archaeological survey, or geophysical work. For outside (non-UBC) projects to qualify for credit as AMNE 595, they must involve a minimum of 4 weeks of fieldwork and must be demonstrated to fulfill the specific learning objectives described in the AMNE 595 Syllabus. Students must seek preapproval from the Chair of Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies for these projects as soon as possible and no later than 2 months in advance of the project's start. Please contact amne.grad@ubc.ca with questions and/or with your petition request.
3. The completion of previous field experience as defined above is subject to approval by the Chair of Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies. Field programs not completed as AMNE 595 can fulfill the field requirement but do not count for course credit toward the MA program. To count for credit toward the MA program, field experience must be fulfilled in the form of AMNE 595 during the degree.

Students in other MA programs who wish to participate in a field school for credit towards their degree should discuss this with the program advisor.

All MA students may include AMNE 595 (to a maximum of 3 credits) as part of their program as long as other degree requirements are met, their supervisors approve, they are making satisfactory progress, and in good academic standing. Students applying to the PhD program in Classics (Classical Archaeology) must have fulfilled this requirement before entry.

You are required to attain minimal reading knowledge of at least one foreign modern language in addition to English. Available choices are French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

You will select the language in consultation with the Graduate Program Advisor and/or your Thesis Supervisor. The selected language will be reported to the Graduate Program Advisor.

Competence in a language can be established by any of four means:

1. Being a native speaker of the language.
2. The successful completion of an examination administered by the department’s Graduate Committee or, when available, by another department. The examination may be reattempted until passed.
3. The successful completion of six credits (one year) in the language. This may be fulfilled with any paired language courses (e.g. GERM 100 and 110, ITAL 101 and 102, SPAN 101 and 102, SPAN 206 and 207, FREN 101 and 102, FREN 342 and 343). These two courses must be taken for academic credit while registered in the graduate program, must meet minimum grades for G&PS, and do not count toward the credits required for the degree.
4. The completion of a modern language requirement as part of another graduate degree.

At the Department of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, we strongly urge students to consider early on in their program how they will fulfill the language requirements to further their academic and career development.

Before the end of the program, you are required to complete at least two years of study (12 credits or equivalent) in one of the following ancient languages: Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Latin, or Classical Arabic (minimum grade: B-/68%). Please note that any courses you take to satisfy this requirement do not count toward the 30 credits required by the program.

If you intend to pursue doctoral study, we must note that more languages are typically required for admission and that these minimum standards may not be sufficient.

We strongly encourage you to take courses in Akkadian, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Coptic and/or other relevant ancient Near Eastern languages, particularly if you wish to pursue doctoral degrees. Senior undergraduate courses in ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian languages can be counted among the six upper-level undergraduate courses the university allows to count toward the 30-credit MA program minimum with prior approval from the AMNE graduate studies committee.

You select your thesis advisor at the end of their first academic year (before May, year one), with the expectation that thesis work begins that summer.

Once the Director of Graduate Studies is informed of the selection, the thesis advisor becomes chair of the MA supervisory committee. In consultation with you, your thesis advisor selects a second member for the committee and upon submission of your thesis, the two of them must agree upon a final grade for the thesis (AMNE 599).

The Director of Graduate Studies serves as a member of each committee ex officio to ensure fairness across the cohort. In cases where the Director of Graduate Studies is one of the two markers for the thesis, a third suitable person is selected as a committee member. All MA supervisory committees must include at least two faculty members of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at UBC.