The subject area of European Archaeology has a broad temporal focus: teaching and research cover the epochs from the Neolithic to the Early Middle Ages, with the Roman epoch being covered by the lecturers of the Vindonissa Professorship for the Archaeology of the Roman Provinces.

Teaching is aimed at optimally preparing students for work in the classical professional fields - i.e. archaeological heritage conservation, museum and university. Central goals are therefore the acquisition of a sound and multifaceted overview knowledge of the prehistoric and early historic periods and the Roman period as well as the teaching of theoretical, methodological and reflective competence. Since archaeological heritage management represents the largest job market, practical training is a particular concern.

In addition to a great temporal and thematic breadth, the study location Basel offers the almost unique opportunity to become acquainted with both cultural and natural scientific approaches to reconstructing the cultural history of past epochs and to integrate the results obtained in each case into an overall view. This "Integrative Archaeology" ensures a thematically very broad education, in which the practice of interdisciplinary work has a firm place.