MA Guidelimes: Archaeology

The degree requires 33 units of graduate-level work (5XX), distributed as follows:

1. All entering graduate students must enroll in CLAS 510A, the basic proseminar in philological, archaeological, and pedagogical methods.

3. For students who choose a minor field at least 9-12 units of electives are required. If students do not choose a minor field, then the additional 9-12 units may be taken from CLAS/LAT/GRK 5XX courses.

4. No more than 3 units of 599 (independent study) credit may be counted toward the degree.

5. 3 units—but no more than 3 units—of CLAS 910 (thesis writing) must be counted toward the basic 33 units.

Before enrolling in a CLAS 596 seminar, a student must have demonstrated research proficiency in a modern foreign language, following the procedures specified below.

Before earning permission to undertake the M.A. thesis, students must pass the Modern Language, Qualifying, and Comprehensive Examinations.

All students who have not taken CLAS 340A and 340B at the University of Arizona must do so for a grade (i.e., they may not audit the courses or take them pass/fail) during the first year of graduate residency. Students who enter the program with extensive prior background in these areas may, but only with the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies, be exempted from this requirement. CLAS 340A and 340B may not be taken for graduate credit.

A student need not select a minor field (see Basic Requirements No. 3 above in this section).

If students do not select a minor, then they must choose a primary area of interest in either Greek or Roman archaeology. A secondary interest will be chosen from Greek or Roman archaeology, Greek or Latin philology, Near Eastern Studies, Anthropology, History, Art History, Museum Studies, Geosciences, Material Sciences, or other related fields approved by the Director of Graduate Studies in consultation with (archaeology) faculty. All GRK or LAT 5XX courses may be used as electives. This area of secondary interest is defined as a specific area of specialization separate from the candidate's major area of interest and requires a minimum of 9 units of 5XX level course work.

Within the classical archaeology emphasis, all students are required to meet the requirement for one ancient language, either Greek or Latin, by passing a course at the 5XX level with a B or higher. For the other ancient language, they must pass a course at the 4XX level with a B or higher. Students with insufficient training in the languages must enroll, as required in writing at the time of admission, in GRK/LAT 1XX or 2XX, and earn a grade of B or higher; they may not audit these courses or take them pass/fail.

This requirement is identical for students emphasizing either ancient history, archaeology, pedagogy, or philology. Research proficiency in French, German, or Italian is required for the M.A. degree. Modern language examinations will be administered by the department and will follow a uniform format: students will be given a passage from a scholarly work in the field of classical studies and will be asked to translate it within one hour. Dictionaries are allowed.

Students can also satisfy the requirement by completing German 500 with a grade of B or higher (and thus need not take the departmental exam). Students who do not fulfill the modern language examination requirement by the end of their second semester of graduate residence will not be allowed to continue in the program until the requirement is fulfilled, and will be ineligible for financial aid or any other form of departmental support.

Students are required to demonstrate their familiarity with key monuments of classical archaeology in a written examination (3 hours). They will be expected to identify 40 monuments, providing such details as the name of the monument, the date, the artist, the location for architecture, architectural sculpture, and other immovables and, where pertinent, the country, and briefly to discuss the significance of that data.

The examination will be given once each semester, in the sixth week. Exams will be administered in the fall and spring semesters only, not at any time during the summer.

A score of 85% is required to pass. Two archaeology faculty members will grade the examinations; in the event of a disagreement about an examination, the Director of Graduate Studies will ask a third faculty member to arbitrate. The exams will be graded and the results reported to students within two weeks of the examination date.

If failed, the exam may be retaken in the sixth week of the following semester. Students must pass the examination by their third semester of residence after they have begun taking courses in the archaeology emphasis for graduate credit. Students who do not pass the Qualifying Exam within the prescribed timeline may not continue in the M.A.program.

Comprehensive Examinations are normally taken in the semester immediately after the Qualifying Examination has been passed. They will be administered only in the fall and spring semesters, not at any time during the summer. Students must have previously passed the Modern Language and Qualifying Examinations in order to attempt the Comprehensive Examination. A basic reading list for the examination is attached to this document as Appendix C.

It is the student's responsibility, prior to taking the Comprehensive Examinations, to prepare a Master's Degree Program of Study form, known as the "degree check," to submit it to the Director of Graduate Studies for his or her signature, and to make sure that it is routed to the Graduate School with the assistance of the departmental Administrative Assistant.

The Comprehensive Examinations are three in number. They will be administered over a period of three days (unless a weekend intervenes), during sessions of three hours each. The sequence and emphases of the examinations will be determined by the student in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, except that the examination in ancient history must be scheduled at the same time as other students taking it in the same semester.

Students should inform the Director of Graduate Studies of their intention to take the exams, preferably in the semester before the Comprehensive Examinations are to be taken, but no later than the end of the first week of the examination semester. At that time they will also submit a list of the courses which they have taken that are relevant to the exams, including the titles of all papers they wrote for these courses, to the (archaeology) faculty member(s) administering the exams. Upon consultation with the student, the faculty member(s) will determine a list of ten broadly defined topics to be studied in preparation for the exams in Greek and Roman archaeology. The faculty member(s) administering the exams will provide students and the Director of Graduate Studies with lists of the ten agreed upon topics, preferably in the semester before the Comprehensive Examination is to be taken, but no later than the end of the first week of the examination semester.

1. One examination will be devoted to Greek archaeology (3 hours). As the exam normally will cover all areas of Greek archaeology (i.e., prehistoric through Hellenistic), students are strongly advised to take a broad range of graduate courses. The Comprehensive Examination in Greek archaeology will consist of ten essay questions based on the list of ten topics; students will choose to write on any six of these. The essays should include, if applicable, references to relevant primary (author and work) and secondary (author, date, title of work) sources.

2. One examination will be devoted to Roman archaeology (3 hours). As the exam normally will cover all areas of Roman archaeology (i.e., Etruscan through late antique), students are strongly advised to take a broad range of graduate courses. The Comprehensive Examination in Roman archaeology will consist of ten essay questions based on the list of ten topics; students will choose to write on any six of these. The essays should include, if applicable, references to relevant primary (author and work) and secondary (author, date, title of work) sources.

3. One examination will be devoted to ancient history (3 hours). The ancient history exam will be based on the syllabus exactly as given in Appendix F.

High Pass: 90-100%: A score of 90% or above is essential for the student to be recommended to a doctoral program.

Fail: below 75%: Beneath the level of accomplishment expected of a candidate for the degree.

The examinations in Greek and Roman archaeology will be graded by two archaeology faculty members. In the case of a disagreement about the exam, the Director of Graduate Studies will ask a third faculty member to arbitrate. At least two Classics faculty members will grade the examination in history; in the event of a disagreement about an examination, the Director of Graduate Studies will ask a third faculty member to arbitrate. The exams will be graded and the results reported to students within two weeks of the examination date.

Students must obtain at least a “Pass” in each section of the examination. Failure to pass one part of the exam will necessitate the retaking of the failed portion of the exam in that same semester (normally within two weeks of the failed exam) at a time to be determined in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies. Students who fail two or all three parts of the examination will retake the entire Comprehensive Examination in the sixth week of the following semester. A second failure on any part of the Comprehensive Examination will result in the student’s termination from the graduate program.