Archaeology, BA (Hons)

Archaeology at Cambridge

This flexible course gives you the opportunity to study a broad range of subjects. Or you can choose to specialise from your first year.

You will also go on exciting digs, field trips and study tours in various parts of Europe and beyond.

There are 4 main subjects you can study:

• Archaeology – use material evidence, from molecules to monumental structures, to explore the human past and understand past societies
• Assyriology – study languages, cultures, history and archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria)
• Biological Anthropology – investigate human evolution and diversity, biology and behaviour, and the interaction between biology and culture
• Egyptology – study history, languages, society, archaeology and religion of ancient Egypt

Over the course of your degree you could:

• study the behaviour of chimpanzees
• learn about our oldest human ancestors
• translate Egyptian hieroglyphs
• learn about how climate change affected past societies
• examine imagery in a Babylonian poem

Teaching, facilities and resources

Teaching

Our staff are at the forefront of research, involving students through fieldwork and research projects.

The research we do ranges widely across time and locations, including:

• discovering where the gold from Tutankhamen’s mask came from
• studying the population genetics of south-east Asian islands
• uncovering the impact of plague on medieval Cambridge

Facilities and resources

Our department is based around two sites in the city centre. Our facilities and resources include:

• the Cambridge Archaeological Unit – a dedicated professional field unit
• the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research – a research space for archaeologists at Cambridge and their collaborators
• purpose built laboratories
• the Haddon Library of Archaeology and Anthropology
• the Duckworth Laboratory – containing collections of human and primate skeletal remains and fossil hominin casts
• Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Fitzwilliam Museum, with collections of world importance

You'll also have access to:

• the impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries.

Course costs

When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).

Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students – you can find details of these costs here.

Other additional costs for Archaeology are detailed below. If you have any queries about course costs, please contact the Department.

Year 1

• An optional 2 day field trip. Estimated cost £50.

Year 2

• Compulsory field trip for the Archaeology, and Archaeology and Biological Anthropology tracks during the Easter vacation. Also available to other IIA students not taking those tracks. The trip is funded by the Faculty.
• 4 weeks of fieldwork or a 4-week study tour during the summer vacation after Year 2.

Departmentally-run options for fieldwork (currently costing £800) are fully covered by the Department and funding (currently up to £1400) is provided for study tours (Egypt and Mesopotamia track students only).

If you decide to undertake fieldwork other than these options, the Department will provide an equivalent amount of funding. You will be required to fund any difference yourself. The cost of this will vary depending on the location you choose.

Your future career

You’ll graduate with a wide-ranging portfolio of versatile and transferable skills that are valued by employers, opening the way to many careers.

Our graduates have gone on to work in:

• the commercial archaeology sector in the UK and internationally
• heritage organisations, such as the National Trust and Historic England

Recent graduates have also gone into:

• law
• advertising
• media
• conservation
• health
• further academic study