Master of Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

Multidisciplinary training at a very high level

Based on the synergy of the scientific skills, methods and means of Aix-Marseille University and the Department of Underwater and Underwater Archaeological Research(Drassm, Ministry of Culture), the MoMArch Master's degree is based on the know-how developed over the last 50 years within the pioneering institutions of Aix and Marseille.

This institutional synergy makes it possible to offer multidisciplinary training of a very high level, both theoretical and practical, intended for future managers in the field of research and protection of maritime archaeological heritage in France and abroad.

The training course takes place over two years - Master 1 and Master 2 - organised in semesters alternating multidisciplinary theoretical courses and supervised operational immersion. Eight students, half of whom are recruited from abroad, make up the annual number of students limited by a strict numerus clausus.

Supported by the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, the MoMArch Master's degree has been a member of the UNITWIN university network since 2015. Since 2017, Aix-Marseille University has held the UNESCO Chair in Maritime and Coastal Archaeology.

Thematic axes of the training

• Acquisition of disciplinary knowledge
  Port and coastal archaeology, naval archaeology, maritime trade archaeology, deep-sea archaeology, training in paleoenvironmental sciences.
• Methodological and technical training
  Mastery of the operating chain of programmed archaeology and preventive archaeology, from the setting up of an operation to the scientific publication and the valorization of the results.
• Control of the operating chain of preventive conservation and training in methods of documentation and field detection (topography, photogrammetry, GIS, instrumented detection, 3D modelling, etc.).
• Hyperbaric training
  Adapted to the archaeological practice given in collaboration with the National Institute of Professional Diving(INPP).

School workcamps

The acquisition of field experience is based on work sites set up by the school. by the Drassm and the Centre Camille Jullian, in partnership with Ipso Facto. Training is supplemented by internships in France and abroad.

The MoMArch shipyard schools support archaeological research operations in the port context, one in the Bay of Girolata in Corsica, the other in the Gulf of Fos, but also operations of naval architectural study as on the wreck of Paragan in Bonifacio. The students are supervised by a college of teachers and researchers for the writing of a scientific dissertation on a subject of maritime and coastal archaeology.