The Department of Archaeometry, Archaeological Heritage and Methodology was established in 2003 under the name Department of Archaeometry and Archaeological Methodology at the initiative of academician Miklós Szabó. It received its current name in 2017. The department's first head was Professor László Bartosiewicz, who led it until 2015. It is currently headed by Associate Professor Zoltán Czajlik (habil.).

The department is responsible for teaching general archaeology courses. In this work, we are supported by the Aquincum Museum and Archaeological Park of the Budapest History Museum (BTM) and the Budavár Property Development and Management Nonprofit Ltd. Another major area of teaching, both at the undergraduate and master’s level, is archaeometry. In the near future, new master's specializations in archaeological heritage will also be introduced. The department’s main research areas include archaeozoology, bioarchaeology, geoarchaeology, archaeological topography (aerial archaeology and geophysics), geographic information systems (GIS), and microscopic material analysis.

The department oversees two collections—the Archaeozoological Reference Collection and the Aerial Archaeological Photo Archive—as well as three laboratories: the GIS Research Laboratory, the Microscopy Laboratory, and the Sample Preparation and Thin Section Laboratory.

Head of Department

Dr. Alexandra Anders, Associate Professor (habil.)

Areas of Specialization

Archaeometry

The archaeometry specialization at the undergraduate level is a 6-semester program, with the following thematic structure: 1. general archaeozoology, 2. physical anthropology, 3. environmental archaeology, 4. archaeological material analysis, 5. geographic information systems (GIS), 6. scientific dating methods and archaeological interpretation. The thematic core courses and seminars are complemented by 4 semesters of material studies, which focus primarily on the microscopic analysis of archaeological finds and the processing of aerial archaeological photographs.

The archaeometry specialization at the master’s level is a 4-semester program. Subjects are taught in the form of lectures or seminars and include: bioarchaeology, the beginnings of food production, research on earthworks, geoarchaeology, household archaeology, quantitative methods, pastoralism in archaeological periods, statistics in archaeology, and landscape archaeology.

Since 2013, the archaeometry program has included departmental excavations and fieldwork (Százhalombatta, Early Iron Age tumulus cemetery) as well as regular laboratory visits (Institute of Archaeogenomics, HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities – Budapest; Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI) – Debrecen; Budapest Neutron Centre (BNC) – Budapest; Faculty of Science, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE TTK) – Budapest).