This course offers students the ability to cover a wide range of topics or hone in on their particular interests, and the flexibility of the course covers a huge span of different historical and geographical locations.
Cambridge is the perfect place to study Archaeology as you will have access to a wide range of facilities and relics, with a dedicated field unit, an IT suite, laboratories, libraries, University museums and collections, and the local Fitzwilliam Museum. Cambridge is also a thriving centre of historical discovery, with multiple ground-breaking archaeological findings in and around the city – you might just have the opportunity to be a part of history in the making.
In first year, you choose three options out of seven archaeology, language, or biological anthropology modules; your fourth can be another of these, or a paper from a parallel subject (PBS, Social Anthropology, Politics, or Sociology).
In your second and third years, you choose one of four pathways: Archaeology (using relics to make inferences about history), Assyriology or Egyptology (studying ancient Mesopotamia or Egypt respectively) or Biological Anthropology (interrogating the relationship between the natural and cultural sciences). For each of these, you take a variety of papers from the Archaeology department and parallel courses including PBS, HSPS and Classics.
For all (except Biological Anthropology), you must take a month-long study trip or fieldwork before your final year. These trips are usually faculty-funded. You will also have the option to write your own dissertation in your final year. Archaeology is one of the smallest courses at Cambridge, with an average intake of under 25 successful applicants, of which there are almost double the number of female applicants than male applicants.
Potential students should consider taking relevant A-Levels (or equivalent) such as Classics, Geography, History, Languages, sciences, or social sciences, although no specific A-Levels are necessary. Taking Archaeology at Cambridge will develop your data analysis, teamwork, and critical skills, which will set you up well for future work in heritage institutions, further research, and even such diverse areas as marketing. This is a small degree course, the joint smallest at Cambridge, tying with History & Modern Languages.