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Archaeology at Cambridge is a dynamic course. You can study archaeology, Assyriology, biological anthropology and Egyptology.
Explore human evolution and biology, ancient cultures and languages, early societies and how heritage affects identity and politics today. You can also choose a subject or 2 to specialise in.
Overview
Number 1 in the UK for Archaeology (The Complete University Guide 2025)
Archaeology at Cambridge
This flexible course gives you the opportunity to study a broad range of subjects. Or you can choose to specialise from your first year.
You may also go on exciting digs, field trips and study tours in various parts of Europe and beyond.
There are 4 main subjects you can study:
- Archaeology – use material evidence, from molecules to monumental structures, to explore the human past and understand past societies
- Assyriology – study languages, cultures, history and archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria)
- Biological Anthropology – investigate human evolution and diversity, biology and behaviour, and the interaction between biology and culture
- Egyptology – study history, languages, society, archaeology and religion of ancient Egypt
Over the course of your degree you could:
- study the behaviour of chimpanzees
- learn about our oldest human ancestors
- translate Egyptian hieroglyphs
- learn about how climate change affected past societies
- examine imagery in a Babylonian poem
Teaching, facilities and resources
Teaching
Our staff are at the forefront of research, involving students through fieldwork and research projects.
The research we do ranges widely across time and locations, including:
- discovering where the gold from Tutankhamen’s mask came from
- studying the population genetics of south-east Asian islands
- uncovering the impact of plague on medieval Cambridge
Facilities and resources
Our department is based around two sites in the city centre. Our facilities and resources include:
- the Cambridge Archaeological Unit – a dedicated professional field unit
- the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research – a research space for archaeologists at Cambridge and their collaborators
- purpose built laboratories
- the Haddon Library of Archaeology and Anthropology
- the Duckworth Laboratory – containing collections of human and primate skeletal remains and fossil hominin casts
- Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Fitzwilliam Museum, with collections of world importance
You'll also have access to:
- the impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries.
Course costs
When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).
Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students.
Find out more about general study costs.
Other additional costs for Archaeology are detailed below. If you have any queries about course costs, please contact the Department.
Year 2
- Compulsory field trip for the Archaeology, and Archaeology and Biological Anthropology tracks during the Easter vacation. Also available to other IIA students not taking those tracks. The trip is funded by the Department.
- 4 weeks of fieldwork or a 4-week study tour during the summer vacation after Year 2.
Departmentally-run options for fieldwork (currently costing £800) are fully covered by the Department and funding (currently up to £1400) is provided for study tours (Egypt and Mesopotamia track students only).
If you decide to undertake fieldwork other than these options, the Department will provide an equivalent amount of funding. You will be required to fund any difference yourself. The cost of this will vary depending on the location you choose.
Your future career
You’ll graduate with a wide-ranging portfolio of versatile and transferable skills that are valued by employers, opening the way to many careers.
Our graduates have gone on to work in:
- the commercial archaeology sector in the UK and internationally
- heritage organisations, such as the National Trust and Historic England
Recent graduates have also gone into:
- law
- advertising
- media
- conservation
- health
- further academic study
Course outline
Teaching
You will usually have 6 to 8 lectures and one or two small-group supervisions each week. You may also have language classes, seminars and/or practicals.
Assessment
You’ll be assessed each year through written exams and coursework.
Some papers include assessed practicals or fieldwork.
Most students write a 10,000 word dissertation in their third year.
You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.
Year 1 (Part I)
You study 3 papers from several core archaeology, language and biological anthropology options. Some of these may be compulsory.
Your fourth paper can be another core subject paper, or you can choose a psychology, social anthropology, politics and international relations or sociology option.
Years 2 and 3 (Parts II)
You can study one of 4 subjects. Or you can combine them to study either Archaeology and Biological Anthropology or Assyriology and Egyptology.
Subject 1: Archaeology
In year 2 you take 4 papers:
- theory and practice in archaeology
- data analysis
- archaeology of a particular period or region
- the fourth paper is either another period or region option, a biological anthropology paper or a paper chosen from another course such as Classics or Human, Social, and Political Sciences
You go on a 4-week study tour and/or fieldwork, before starting your third year.
In year 3 you write a dissertation and study advanced archaeological thought and archaeology in the wider world.
You also study additional options from within this track or from another course, such as Classics or Human, Social, and Political Sciences.
Subject 2: Assyriology
In year 2 you take 4 papers:
- Akkadian language
- Mesopotamian archaeology
- another paper on Mesopotamia
- Sumerian language, when offered, or a paper chosen from another course like Classics or Human, Social, and Political Sciences
You go on a 4-week study tour and/or do fieldwork, before starting your third year.
In year 3 you take 4 papers:
- Akkadian language
- Mesopotamian archaeology
- another paper on Mesopotamia or Sumerian language (when offered) or another paper in Archaeology or from another course like Classics or Human, Social, and Political Sciences
- the fourth paper is usually your dissertation
Subject 3: Egyptology
In year 2 you take 4 papers:
- a paper in Egyptian language
- 2 papers on society, religion and death in Ancient Egypt
- another paper in Archaeology or from another course like Classics or Human, Social, and Political Science
You go on a 4-week study tour and/or fieldwork, before starting your third year.
In year 3 you take 3 papers:
- Egyptian language
- Egyptian archaeology
- either Egyptian language or Egyptian archaeology
You will also write a dissertation.
Subject 4: Biological Anthropology
In year 2 you take a paper on data analysis and interpretation, plus 2 or 3 Biological Anthropology papers. You’ll study core topics like:
- human evolution
- comparative human biology
- human ecology and behaviour
- your fourth paper can be from Archaeology or another course such as Psychological and Behavioural Sciences or Human, Social, and Political Sciences
In year 3 you take specialist papers, remaining core papers in Biological Anthropology, and write a dissertation.
You also take further papers chosen from a range of areas, including:
- archaeology
- Psychological and Behavioural Sciences
Changing course
It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply.
In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.
You might also have to:
- take part in an interview
- complete an admissions test
- produce some written work
- achieve a particular grade in your current studies
- do some catch-up work
- start your new course from the beginning
For more information visit the Department website.
You can also apply to change to:
You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed 1 year or more of your original Cambridge course.
You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.
Entry requirements
The listed entry requirements relate to entry in 2026 or deferred entry in 2027.
Minimum offer level
A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Other qualifications: Check which other qualifications we accept.
We don't ask for any specific subjects to apply to Archaeology. We’d recommend certain subjects for a strong application, ideally any combination of arts, humanities, sciences or social sciences.
College entry requirements
The following Colleges usually set offers at the minimum offer level. They may sometimes ask for higher grades or an A* in a particular subject:
- Christ's
- Churchill
- Clare
- Corpus Christi
- Downing
- Emmanuel
- Fitzwilliam
- Girton
- Gonville & Caius
- Homerton
- Hughes Hall
- Jesus
- King's
- Magdalene
- Murray Edwards
- Newnham
- Pembroke
- Peterhouse
- Queens’
- Robinson
- Sidney Sussex
- St Catharine's
- St Edmund's
- St John's
- Trinity
- Trinity Hall
- Wolfson
The following Colleges set extra conditions for most or all offers. For example, they may make a higher offer or specify an A* in a particular subject. However, some may occasionally set offers at the minimum level. For more information check the College websites:
Colleges set additional offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.
IB offers
Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page.
Admissions assessment
There is no admission assessment for this course.
Submitted work
You will need to submit one piece of written work. This should be in essay format (not science coursework or a timed exam) with a word limit of up to 1500 words. The work can be taken from an EPQ.
What Archaeology students have studied
Most Archaeology students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*AA.
Most had studied at least one of:
- English (Language, Language & Literature, or Literature)
- History
- a language
- a science subject
Most studied at least one maths or science subject and at least one arts, language, or humanities subject.
This information shows some of the common subjects our applicants have studied. Although these are common subject combinations, this doesn't mean they're favoured.
When you're choosing your post-16 subjects, it's most important to check whether any subjects are required for your course. You can also check our guidance on choosing your high school subjects for more information.
All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.
Next steps
Discover your department or faculty
- - The Department of Archaeology has more information about this course, facilities, people and research.
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Visit us on open day
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- - We offer a range of events where you can find out more about Cambridge, Colleges, and your course. Many of our events have hybrid options so you can join us virtually.
Find out how to apply
- - Our admissions process is slightly different to other universities. We’ve put together a handy guide to tell you everything you need to know about applying to study at Cambridge.
- - Supercurricular activities are a great way to engage with your chosen subject outside of school or college.
Discover Uni
Discover Uni data
Contextual information
Discover Uni allows you to compare information about individual courses at different higher education institutions. This can be a useful method of considering your options and what course may suit you best.
However, please note that superficially similar courses often have very different structures and objectives, and that the teaching, support and learning environment that best suits you can only be determined by identifying your own interests, needs, expectations and goals, and comparing them with detailed institution- and course-specific information.
We recommend that you look thoroughly at the course and University information contained on these webpages and consider coming to visit us on an Open Day, rather than relying solely on statistical comparison.
You may find the following notes helpful when considering information presented by Discover Uni.
- Discover Uni relies on superficially similar courses being coded in the same way. Whilst this works on one level, it may lead to some anomalies. For example, Music courses and Music Technology courses can have exactly the same code despite being very different programmes with quite distinct educational and career outcomes.
Any course which combines several disciplines (as many courses at Cambridge do) tends to be compared nationally with courses in just one of those disciplines, and in such cases the Discover Uni comparison may not be an accurate or fair reflection of the reality of either. For example, you may find that when considering a degree which embraces a range of disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry and geology (for instance, Natural Sciences at Cambridge), the comparison provided is with courses at other institutions that primarily focus on just one (or a smaller combination) of those subjects.You may therefore find that not all elements of the Cambridge degree are represented in the Discover Uni data. - Some contextual data linked from other surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) or the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE), may not be available or may be aggregated across several courses or several years due to small sample sizes. When using the data to inform your course choice, it is important to ensure you understand how it has been processed prior to its presentation. Discover Uni offers some explanatory information about how the contextual data is collated, and how it may be used, which you can view here: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/about-our-data/.
- Discover Uni draws on national data to provide average salaries and employment/continuation data. Whilst starting salaries can be a useful measure, they do not give any sense of career trajectory or take account of the voluntary/low paid work that many graduates undertake initially in order to gain valuable experience necessary/advantageous for later career progression. Discover Uni is currently piloting use of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to demonstrate possible career progression; it is important to note that this is experimental and its use may be modified as it embeds.
The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other important factors that are relevant to the choices that you are making, but we hope that this will be a useful starting point to help you delve deeper than the face value of the Discover Uni data.