Archaeology

Archaeology covers a broad range of topics, from the evolution of humans through the development of farming, ancient societies, and world empires, to heritage in modern societies. Students can choose to specialise in Archaeology (covering all world cultures), Biological Anthropology, Egyptology or Assyriology.

Cambridge is one of the largest centres of archaeological research in Britain and draws on the combined resources of the Division of Archaeology and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. We have recently been awarded top place in the Good University Guide for Archaeology in the UK. Archaeology students at Cambridge benefit from direct hands-on access to world-class collections in Cambridge’s many museums, libraries and research centres. 2017 was the first year of our new undergraduate degree programme in single honours Archaeology and we look forward to welcoming more students onto this exciting course.

Archaeology is a broad field allowing specialism in many subject areas: the course encourages study of topics ranging across the humanities, the social sciences and the sciences. Students with almost any combination of subjects can apply; there are no required or recommended courses. We welcome applications from students studying humanistic fields such as History, English, Classics, and ancient languages, social sciences such as Geography, Sociology, Psychology, or Anthropology, and sciences such as Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. Applicants for Egyptology and Assyriology should be enthusiastic about studying languages.