Entry requirements
A level
Applicants taking Science A-levels that include a practical component will be required to take and pass this as a condition of entry. This refers only to English A Levels.
Access to HE Diploma
We require 60 credits with a minimum of 45 credits at level 3 (or equivalent). Applicants may be required to meet additional subject-specific requirements for particular courses at Durham.
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Seventeen points (6, 6, 5) from Higher Level subjects.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Advanced Higher
Scottish Higher
We will normally make offers based on Advanced Highers. If an applicant has not been able to take 3 Advanced Highers, offers may be made with a combination of Advanced Highers and Highers, or on a number of Highers.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
This dynamic course brings together the rigour of the scientific laboratory and the excitement of fieldwork. It will help you to understand archaeology across the world, drawing on the latest scientific techniques, such as DNA analysis, bone chemistry and the study of archaeological bone and plant remains.
**Year 1**
Compulsory modules: Archaeology in Britain / Archaeology Practicals / Scientific Methods in Archaeology 1.
Optional modules; choose up to three modules from the following lists of modules which have been available in previous years: Discovering World Prehistory
/ Cities in Antiquity / Medieval to Modern: An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Medieval to Post-Medieval World / Ancient Civilisations of the East / One or two modules in another department.
**Year 2**
Compulsory modules: Professional Training (requires three weeks of fieldwork in the summer preceding Level 2) / Scientific Methods in Archaeology 2 / Developing Archaeological Research (required to take a dissertation in Archaeology at Level 3).
Optional modules; choose two modules selected from the following lists of modules which have been available in previous years: Prehistoric Europe / Becoming Roman / Archaeology of Medieval and Post-Medieval Britain / East Mediterranean in the Bronze Age / Ancient Mediterranean civilisations: East and West / Advanced skills in Archaeology (Single) / Another module listed under 4 OR a module in any department (including a language module).
**Year 3 (Year 4 if undertaking a Year Abroad)**
Compulsory modules: Dissertation (double module) / Advanced Professional Training (requires three weeks of fieldwork in the summer preceding Level 2) / Scientific Methods in Archaeology 3.
Optional modules; take two modules from: Specialised Aspects in Archaeology (single or double) / Interpreting Heritage / Museum Representation / A module in any department.
**Fieldwork**
All Single Honours students undertake six weeks’ compulsory fieldwork; three weeks at our field school in the first year, and three weeks at an excavation of your choice in the second year. For Single Honours students, only one module in any department may be taken over the second and third years.
We review course structures and core content (in light of e.g. external and student feedback) every year, and will publish finalised core requirements for 2020 entry from September 2019.
**Study Abroad**
Archaeology: We are part of the ERASMUS programme which encourages students to study for part of their course in a university of another EU country. We currently have links with the universities of Gothenburg (Sweden), Mainz (Germany), Bordeaux (France), Vienna (Austria) and the Free University of Berlin (Germany), as well as Bergen (Norway) and Koc (Turkey). Studying abroad through one of these exchanges, like the Year Abroad, will involve inserting an extra year into your programme of study between your second and final years. If, in your second year, your application for a place is successful, you will be transferred from the three-year version of your degree to a four-year version. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in excavations run by members of staff and colleagues of other universities at various places round the world.
For more information about this course please visit the University website.
Modules
For more information on the content of this course, including module details, please see our website.
Tuition fees
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Archaeology
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How do students rate their degree experience?
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Archaeology
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Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
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Archaeology
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What do graduate employment figures really tell you?Want to do a job in the arts - with lots of the great outdoors? Try archaeology! There don't tend to be many archaeology undergraduates out there (just under 700 graduated in 2015) - but it's quite a popular subject at postgraduate level. In fact, over a quarter of archaeology graduates take some kind of further study when they graduate - usually more study of archaeology. When you look at the stats, be aware that junior jobs in archaeology are not always well paid at the start of your career, and that temporary contracts are not uncommon. Thankfully, though, unpaid work, whilst not completely gone, is less common than it used to be. The archaeology graduates of 2015 found jobs in archaeology, of course, but also management and heritage and environment work, as well as more conventional graduate jobs in marketing and the finance industry.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Archaeology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£21k
£29k
£35k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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