Our Archaeology course is jointly accredited by the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) and the University Archaeology UK group (UAUK). You'll experience hands-on fieldwork which draws on humanities, social sciences and core science - an ideal start to your career.
Archaeology is a multidisciplinary practical degree. It produces graduates with sought-after transferable skills, including critical analysis, communication and team working. From week one, you will be in the field learning these skills on a real archaeological excavation. You'll examine and interpret various evidence from human remains, Palaeolithic stone tools, Anglo-Saxon jewellery and the latest ancient DNA evidence.
As well as lectures and tutorials, you'll spend time each year on placement in the UK and/or abroad, working on excavations, making real discoveries and helping carry out cutting-edge research. Our graduates have been on digs at Avebury and Stonehenge in Wiltshire, Neolithic settlements and tombs in Orkney and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Cambridgeshire, to name but a few.
It's a wide-ranging and practically based degree that allows you to gain vital experience and build contacts with working archaeologists. With the mixture of academic understanding, practical skills and fieldwork experience, you'll be one step closer to a career in archaeology, museums or academia.
Why study with us
- Archaeology at UCLan is ranked top in the Northwest and 6th in the UK for student satisfaction, with 90% overall satisfaction (National Student Survey 2022).
- Spend 10 weeks in the field, working on real research excavations across the UK, making significant finds while developing both transferrable skills and knowledge.
- We have state-of-the-art facilities, including an on-campus training excavation site, archaeological science lab, soil flotation unit, dedicated human bone labs, 3D scanners and cutting-edge excavation equipment.
What you’ll do
- You’ll have the flexibility to delve into the specialist areas that interest you most, with optional units in everything from cultural anthropology to human remains.
- We have an experienced team of research-active staff, with an excellent staff-student ratio – ensuring you’ll have plenty of personal support and attention.
- With the addition of a major research project, you can convert your degree to the four-year MSci qualification.
Module overview
Year 1Compulsory modules
• FZ1201: The Archaeology of Britain
• FZ1203: History of Archaeological Thought
• FZ1205: Bones, Bodies and Burial
• FZ1206: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
• FZ1207: Field Archaeology 1
Year 2
Compulsory modules
• FZ2206: Thinking about the past: Archaeological Theory
• FZ2217: Field Archaeology 2
• FZ2218: Themes in British Archaeology 1
• FZ2219: Archaeological Materials
Optional modules
• FZ2051: Forensic Anthropology
• FZ2207: Hunter-gatherers: Past and Present
• FZ2213: Geometrics
• FZ2214: Archaeology and Anthropology of Animals
• FZ2215: The Archaeology of Death and the Dead Body
• FZ2216: World Archaeology and Art
• FZ2220: Introduction to Professional Practice
Year 3
Compulsory modules
• FZ3202: Dissertation
• FZ3217: Field Archaeology 3
• FZ3218: Themes in British Archaeology 2
Optional modules
• FZ3203: Hunter-Gatherers: Past and Present
• FZ3206: Introduction to Professional Practice
• FZ3213: Geomatics
• FZ3214: Archaeology and Anthropology of Animals
• FZ3215: The Archaeology of Death and the Dead Body
• FZ3216: World Archaeology and Art
• FZ3300: Applied Forensic Anthropology: Taphonomy and Human Remains Recovery
Course delivery
Following the pandemic, we have found that some courses benefit from a blended learning and teaching approach. Therefore, the majority of your teaching will be face-to-face on campus aside from a small amount of online teaching where we have learnt it works best.
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of our published course information. However, our programmes are subject to ongoing review and development. Changing circumstances may cause alteration to, or the cancellation of, courses. Changes may be necessary to comply with the requirements of accrediting bodies or revisions to subject benchmarks statements. As well as to keep courses updated and contemporary, or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make variations if we consider such action to be necessary or in the best interests of students.
Future careers
Our BSc (Hons) Archaeology course offers the specialist knowledge and hands-on skills you’ll need to explore a career in this fascinating profession.
Archaeology offers more career opportunities in the UK than some might think. It’s a profession that provides more than 5,000 jobs, in over 200 companies and contributes over £100m to the UK economy every year, in both the public and the private sector. Historic England have highlighted the need for more trained archaeologists over the next 17 years, due to the surge in major infrastructure projects.
Today, you’ll find our Archaeology graduates working for a number of different contracting archaeological organisations, while others are working in museums or doing research degrees at a variety of UK universities. With the wide range of desirable transferrable skills our course offers, our graduates have also excelled in other career paths, including teaching, research companies or other areas.
You could also use this course as a foundation for further study. While this degree offers the chance to step up to an integrated master’s, with an extra year’s research, you could also take on a separate postgraduate qualification after you graduate.
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