Classical Archaeology investigates the material remains of the Greek and Roman worlds across the Mediterranean and its neighbouring regions, from prehistory to Late Antiquity. It excavates and identifies artefacts, interprets them within their original contexts, and secures them for future generations through conservation, documentation, and museum presentation. Alongside the formal and contextual analysis of monuments, the discipline places strong emphasis on understanding the ancient visual world from artistic and cultural-historical perspectives. The material culture of the Greco-Roman world is viewed not as an isolated system but as part of a dynamic network shaped by continual interaction with neighbouring cultures.

In Basel, Classical Archaeology is characterised by its focus on the material and cultural forms of exchange between Mediterranean civilisations and surrounding regions. The discipline understands itself as a historical cultural science: it investigates its material sources through questions drawn from social, everyday, mental, and religious history, aiming to reconstruct and analyse the cultural systems within which objects once functioned. Another major focus is the artistic and cultural reception of antiquity from the Middle Ages to the modern day.