UCL Institute of Archaeology

03/09/2026

🥁 Introducing Raksha Dave, archaeologist, broadcaster, award-winning author, and now Honorary Professor of Practice at the UCL Institute of Archaeology!

In her own words: "As a UCL alumna, being awarded an Honorary Professorship by the Institute of Archaeology is profoundly meaningful to me, both personally and professionally. My time at UCL played a formative role in shaping my career, my approach to research, and my commitment to public engagement. The university gave me the intellectual foundation and confidence to pursue a career dedicated to exploring the past and communicating its relevance to diverse audiences, and I have always been proud to be part of the UCL community."

We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Raksha back to the Institute. Congratulations!

Photo taken by Dr Daniel Eddisford at Bignor Roman Villa, IoA training excavation, 1997.

UCL Alumni Mirador Talent Management

02/09/2026

Book launch: Digging into Pottery: Scientific Approaches to Archaeological Ceramic Analysis Around the World
🔗https://tinyurl.com/ma26fu82

The new volume will be officially launched at the upcoming IoA Ceramic Analysis Day on Friday!

⏲️ 09:00 - 17:00, 4 September 2026
📍 UCL Institute of Archaeology
🎟️ Non-UCL attendees: Please get in contact using the email on the event page: https://tinyurl.com/s9d8e53f

Edited by Maja Miše and Andrea Martínez-Carrasco, Digging into Pottery brings together international case studies and demonstrates how scientific analysis of archaeological ceramics can illuminate far more than the origins of individual vessels. Its contributions explore pottery production and technology, raw-material selection, technological choices, exchange and mobility, showing how integrated archaeological and scientific approaches can address wider questions about past societies and human interaction.

Published by Archaeopress.

🔗 Find out more about Digging into Pottery: https://tinyurl.com/ma26fu82

The new volume, Digging into Pottery Scientific Approaches to Archaeological Ceramic Analysis Around the World, will be officially launched at the upcoming IoA Ceramic Analysis Day.

01/09/2026

Step inside the world of archaeology.

Join us at the UCL Institute of Archaeology for a free day of discovery at the Winter Archaeology Festival.

Get hands-on with archaeological objects, explore specialist labs and collections, hear from archaeologists, enjoy talks and walking tours, and discover how archaeology helps us uncover the stories of people, cultures and environments that have shaped our world.

Whether you're an archaeology enthusiast, a prospective student or simply curious, there's something for everyone.

🎟️ Book your free place: https://tinyurl.com/WAF26

29/08/2026

26/08/2026

From Mine to Masterpiece: A workshop-centred Perspective on Great Shang Bronze Production

Delivered in the spirit of Beno Rothenberg’s pioneering vision for archaeometallurgy as a field rooted in landscapes of production rather than objects alone, this lecture offers a workshop-grounded reconsideration of Shang bronze production and asks what a mine-to-masterpiece perspective can tell us about the social and political architecture of early Chinese states.

Join us for this year's Beno Rothenberg Memorial Lecture, given by Dr Siran Liu, Associate Professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing.

⏰18:00, 7 October 2026
📍UCL Institute of Archaeology, with an option to attend online
🎟 Booking required: https://tinyurl.com/3tu6encd

20/08/2026

🗓️ Just two weeks to go until IoA Ceramic Analysis Day!

Join IoA staff, students and alumni for a day of presentations exploring scientific approaches to archaeological ceramic analysis across diverse regions and periods.

Presentations will cover coarse ware, glazed pottery, figurines, refractories and plaster. Scientific analyses include thin-section petrography, geochemistry, SEM and XRD, exploring questions of provenance, trade, technology, tradition and identity through archaeological research from the UK, Europe, the Mediterranean, South America, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and the Far East.

Non-UCL attendees must get in contact via the email in the link below 👇
🔗 tinyurl.com/35ma2jpu

13/08/2026

🎉Congrats to everyone on their A-Level results today! If you are in today we have a number of degrees with spaces available: do follow the link in our story to the University College London clearing page to find out more and how to apply!

11/08/2026

Archaeological fieldwork continues in Worcestershire with Dr Murray Andrews and an ace team of UCL Social & Historical Sciences students from the IoA!

Berkan, a current second year undergrad, with the first Roman coin of the season, found via sieving (scroll for the BTS moment of Berkan’s find!). It’s a copper alloy as of Domitian, AD 86.

Blue skies and big finds this summer for all of the University College London IoA students!

06/08/2026

"As far as we know, we're the first archaeological team to be investigating this site properly in a scientific way."

Hear from Dr Matt Pope, Associate Professor in Palaeolithic Archaeology, alongside archaeologists from the UCL Institute of Archaeology and Archaeology South-East, as they speak to ITV News about their fieldwork at Jardin de Perchard, one of Jersey's most important Neolithic sites.

Find out more about the project at https://tinyurl.com/yvrzhxt8

Jersey Heritage Société Jersiaise

05/08/2026

Join IoA staff, students and alumni for a day of presentations exploring scientific approaches to archaeological ceramic analysis across diverse regions and periods.

Presentations will cover coarse ware, glazed pottery, figurines, refractories and plaster. Scientific analyses include thin-section petrography, geochemistry, SEM and XRD, exploring questions of provenance, trade, technology, tradition and identity through archaeological research from the UK, Europe, the Mediterranean, South America, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and the Far East.

Non-UCL attendees must get in contact via the email in the link below 👇
🔗 tinyurl.com/35ma2jpu