Undergraduate students at Edinburgh explore the human story from earliest prehistory to contemporary archaeology and heritage. Here, Archaeology is hands-on, analytical, and global. Undergraduate Archaeology study at Edinburgh Experience how ‘deep time’ meets cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art science. You won’t just learn about the past from books — you will investigate it using the same scientific techniques as professional researchers. ExpertiseYou will be taught by the Archaeology academics teams, who deliver a first-class education and who also bring their internationally recognised research into their teaching, in lectures, workshops, fieldwork and laboratory-based classes. Ranked 6th in the UK for Archaeology (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025), we are united in our passion for Archaeology and for inspiring the next generation. Our expertise spans bioarchaeology and biomolecular archaeology, digital imaging and 3D modelling, GIS and computer simulation, ancient architecture, marine and coastal archaeology, and archaeomaterials analysis. We teaching and research has an extensive geographic scope, including Britain, Ireland and Continental Europe, the Mediterranean, the Near East and Egypt, as well as a wide time range from the Palaeolithic through to the historic period. Resources Our outstanding facilities include six dedicated teaching and research laboratories, from chemistry and wet labs to microscopy, as well as a specialist computing suite, offering direct experience of advanced analytical methods. As an undergraduate, you will work with our extensive teaching collections, including skeletal remains (both human and animal), and the archaeological artefacts in the internationally renowned Vere Gordon Childe collection. Beyond campus, you’ll have access to national institutions such as National Museums Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland.Fieldwork is at the heart of what we do and what we teach. You will have the opportunity to join staff-led research projects, including excavations and archaeological surveys in Britain, Europe, and beyond. With nationally significant archaeological and heritage sites on our doorstep, the city of Edinburgh itself can be your classroom. RecognitionOur undergraduate Archaeology degree programmes are accredited, formal recognition that the training we offer our students in archaeological fieldwork, post-excavation, recording and analysis, as well as the breadth and depth of our academic teaching, meets the professional standards set out by the Chartered Institute for Archaeology (CIfA), the leading chartered body for archaeologists in the UK.Archaeology at Edinburgh is immersive, practical, and future-focused. The only question is: what will you discover?Archaeology programmesFind out more about the Archaeology single and joint Honours programmes here. View a full list of our Archaeology degrees This article was published on 2024-08-01
