Study with Us

Our teaching portfolio comprises archaeology courses for the Bachelor’s Program in Cultural studies and for the Master’s program in Cultural Heritage studies. We also teach a doctoral research seminar in Archaeology.

Our teaching ranges thematically from archaeological theory and methods, to more practical, lab- and fieldwork orientated courses, and to specializing units such as in environmental and scientific archaeology. Whenever possible, our teaching is team-taught, interdisciplinary, and close to latest research results.

Interested in an overview of our current teaching courses in Archaeology at the University of Helsinki? See the list of courses below, or go to the SISU system and enter either "Arkeologia" or "Archaeology" or "Arkeologi" in the search function.

Become a student

As a student in our program at the University of Helsinki, you will gain all the knowledge you will need for a future career in archaeology. You will be able to participate in a variety of courses. As a first-year student you will also participate in our student excavations and learn all the techniques needed for archaeological field work.

As a discipline, archaeology can be combined with almost any other discipline, from natural sciences to geology, art history, religious studies and just about anything beyond that. In our five-year program you will find your specific area of interest and gain complete well-rounded knowledge within the fields of both theoretical and field archaeology. Exclusively, as an archaeology student in the University of Helsinki, you will have the opportunity to participate in our field work projects in Finland and abroad. In previous years, field work abroad has taken place in Romania, Bulgaria, Jordan, Russia, South America, and other regions around the world.

You can apply to become a student of archaeology in the yearly Yhteishaku! You can choose archaeology as your major after being accepted as student to the Programme of Cultural Studies.

Interested in more information about our program and our field work projects? Go to our Instagram and Facebook!

Join our student association!

Fibula ry is the student association of archaeology at the University of Helsinki. Fibula promotes the interest of archaeology students and works as a link between students and the archaeology department staff. Fibula organizes loads of fun and interesting events such as job-related panels, movie nights, study with us -sessions, sports events, picnics, game nights, and much more! Fibula also organizes archaeology-based excursions in Finland and abroad. We’re all about giving unique experiences for our members, helping students in their studies and creating connections between students, staff and alumni.

The whole board of Fibula is happy to answer any questions when it comes to archaeology at the University of Helsinki! You can find our website here, and you can also drop us an email at fibula-hallitus(at)helsinki.fi.

You can find us on Instagram and Facebook here and here!

Teaching 2021-22

Below is a list of courses planned for the academic year 2021-22, arranged according to the teaching period (I-IV) and updated on 1 Sep 2021. Some changes may occur in the course of the year.

Course title	Period	Code	Level	Language	Teacher(s)
Arkeologian perusteet / Introduction to Archaeology	I	KUKA-AR211	BA	Finnish/English	Mika Lavento, Volker Heyd, Kristin Ilves, Eeva-Maria Viitanen
Arkeologinen dokumentointi / Archaeological Documentation	I-II	KUKA-AR217	BA	Finnish	Tuuli Heinonen, Johanna Roiha
Arkeologiset kenttätyömenetelmät / Archaeological Field Work Methods	I-II	KUKA-AR219	BA	Finnish/English	Tuuli Heinonen, Kristin Ilves
Proseminaari / Proseminar	I-IV	KUKA-AR225	BA	Finnish	Antti Lahelma
Seminaari / Seminar	I-IV	KUMA-AR318	MA	Finnish	Mika Lavento
Arkeologiset analyysimenetelmät / Archaeological Analysis Methods	II	KUKA-AR213	BA	FInnish/English	Mika Lavento and others
Eläinbioarkeologia kivikaudelta nykypäivään	II	KUMA-AR503	MA	Finnish	Kristiina Mannermaa, Tuija Kirkinen
Human - Environment Interactions in Maritime Spaces	II	KUMA-AR511	MA	English	Kristin Ilves, Veronica Walker Vadillo
Issues in Maritime Archaeology - Past and Present: PART 1	II	KUMA-AR512	MA	English	Kristin Ilves
Material culture of the ancient Near East	II-III	KUMA-AR311a/b	MA	English	Marta Lorenzon, Saana Svärd and others
Arkeologiset aineistot / Archaeological Data	III	KUKA-AR215	BA	Finnish	Antti Lahelma and others
The Prehistory of Europe	III	KUMA-AR311a	MA	English	Volker Heyd
Archaeological survey / Arkeologinen inventointi	III-IV	KUMA-AR315	MA	Finnish	Tuuli Heinonen, Johanna Roiha, Antti Lahelma, Elisabeth Holmqvist
Kaivausprojekti / Excavation project	III-IV	KUMA-AR316	MA	Finnish	Tuuli Heinonen
Archaeology international	IV	KUMA-AR311b	MA	English	Kristin Ilves and others
Spatial Analysis and Data Exploration in History and Archaeology	IV	KUMA-AR311a/b	MA	English	Eljas Oksanen
Opetuskaivaus / Training Excavation	August, exact dates tbc	KUKA-AR220	BA	Finnish/English	Kristin Ilves, Tuuli Heinonen, Antti Lahelma, Elisabeth Holmqvist

Tips and guidelines

Most archaeology courses can be done in the order you choose, but there are some general guidelines that are good to observe:

Begin your studies with the introductory courses ("Introduction to Archaeology", "The Archaeology of Finland and neighbouring regions", and perhaps "Archaeological data")
The training excavation should be done before participating in "Archaeological documentation" or "Archaeological fieldwork". A good timing for the training excavation is the end of your first year of studies.
”Proseminar” (or ”BA seminar”) is recommended for the 3rd year of study. ”Archaeological theory” should be done before or during the Proseminar.
Many MA level courses can be done already in the BA stage, although some can be challenging if you have not done the introductory courses to archaeology. Many thematic/optional courses are arranged only once or very rarely, so there may not be a new opportunity coming in near future. However, some MA level courses like ”Archaeological survey”, ”Excavation project” and especially the MA Seminar should only be done when you have finished your BA studies.
Some courses (e.g. "Archaeological theory") are arranged bi-annually. If the course is not arranged in the present academic year or you can't fit it in your study calendar, you can complete the unit as a book exam. Check also if it is arranged by the Open University - its courses have a quota for archaeology students who can participate for free. The Helsinki Summer University also offers archaeology courses for which, however, you have to pay.
In addition to courses arranged by the Culture Studies BA program (KUKA) and Cultural Heritage MA program (KUMA), archaeology courses are occasionally arranged also in other BA and MA programs, even in other faculties. Check for instance courses offered by Biblical Studies (in the Faculty of Theology), Ancient Near Eastern Studies (BA program of languages), and Classical Studies (KUKA). Searching SISU with keywords like "material culture", "prehistory" etc. can turn up a surprising number of courses highly relevant to archaeologists.