Archaeology at uni - 2025 entry

[NotLinkingMyChildrenInThreads]

Username and thread title says it all really! DD2 has been mulling all sorts of options for uni applications for next year. Taking A levels in History, Politics and Biology and has been looking into Law, History, Politics, International Relations and Archaeology. The latter is currently the favourite option as it covers practical aspects, history and science which are all of interest to her. I would just like to hear about others who have had their teens go down this route, info on contact hours, good and bad things about their courses and unis, advice etc etc please!
She has lined up some museum work experience for the summer which is good. She also likes the look of York uni at the moment, but is on with investigating others.

And also……have they gone down the BA route or Bsc? And why!

Placemarking - my DD is similar! She likes the look of Reading.

Sounds good @CatSighs we’re up north and she’s looking more at unis closer to home, so Reading not in her radar really. I’m hoping we’ll get some more responses soon!

Bumping for us...

York is the current favourite here, she needs to decide if she’s going for all 5 choices of archaeology, or if she’s going to add in a different course of not.

I am all for knowledge for knowledge's sake, but encourage them to consider employability at the other end.

I know that this is not quite what you asked, but I did work experience in archaeology whilst at school at decided against an archaeology degree which I was previously set on on the basis of the practical experience, and also the feedback of those working there. Most of them did not have archaeology degrees, those that did were in the absolute minority of their cohorts who had jobs, let alone a relevant job, and most of the work was either absolute guess work, or it was running around trying to deal with complete f* ups where construction workers had drilled into archaeological sites without doing a survey and they were trying to preserve stuff. I know we are 20 years on, but my understanding is that there has not been a sea-change. A lot of the "work" in the field in terms of digs etc they can get volunteers to do. Much like conservation, there are far fewer paid jobs than the number of students studying it, and the students studying it are not necessarily in the best position to get the paid jobs as new graduates.

It's not like Time Team. I had this romantic idea that I'd be canoeing up the amazon to reach digs and finding amazing stuff. It's not like that. Carbon dating is not used for anything other than the most exciting finds because it's expensive. It's mainly washing and labelling bits of generic Roman pot. It's not routinely digging up exciting skeletons, putting them back together and carbon dating them. And the people doing that sort of fun stuff often have considerable experience in medicine/dentistry/pathology/human biology first and have then gone down that road, not archaeology degrees - at least this was the case when I was considering options, and frankly it makes sense!

I would encourage them to get some practical experience and advice before heading down that path. Depending on the type of archaeology they want to do, it may be that a really good quality science degree, or for example an art degree (for example, if they are interested in the restoration of ancient artifacts - I met an amazing woman who restores pottery and basically attempts to recreate the original from the pieces, which is painstaking work), or something IT/technical design based which teaches really high level landscape and computer modelling, alongside relevant volunteer work experience (join the Young Archeologists Club and go to monthly meetings as a starting point) will actually make them more employable in the field if they are prepared to play the "long game".

Failing that, consider looking at places that will do a dual degree which make gives them either the raw science, raw art or raw IT skills which might provide more career options on graduation.

These are really interesting insights @Catopia - thank you.

@Catopia I get what you’re saying, but not all of those looking to do archaeology degrees - or geography, classics, English, history, politics (take your pick!) are looking to do careers just in those subjects. I think there is a big difference these days in the university experience than when we were all in the same boat. Though saying that, I made the decision not to go to uni (and have regretted that immensely). In a lot of respects the knowledge gained is secondary to the skills gained. A good percentage of those ending up doing law as a career didn’t do a law degree. You see people going into graduate positions in the civil service, NHS, police, big business etc and the skills they have learnt during their degree are adaptable to their future path - the basis of their degree isn’t necessarily anything to do with their chosen path.
You hear these days of courses such as English being cut at universities because a lack of students taking on the subject - and this is due to a bigger focus on science and maths - it really isn’t what humanity needs. We need people to carry on taking degrees in subjects such as music, English, archaeology, art and so forth. We are all different and the focus should be on enjoyment of learning - then adaptation of skills learnt to a career. It creates a whole rounded character, different perspectives, continuation of skills and knowledge.
My DD knows my opinion about keeping options open and earning enough to enjoy life and enjoy the job you do. It isn’t fun to do a job you love if you struggle to finance your life. Get a good education and see what’s out there.

@NotLinkingMyChildrenInThreads a friend's DC is enjoying the course at Cardiff.

Really competitive to get a decent job after doing Archaeology. I did a BA hons and an MA. I’m so old I got a full grant so didn’t have the pressure of doing a course that would give me employability. I thought I’d get a fab job in a Museum or an art gallery but after only being able to get 1-2 days per week in a very quiet local museum, and not being a trustafarian , I ditched it for a less interesting but better paid job.
It’s not all ancient relics and amazing finds. Often hours of scraping soil looking for subtle changes in colour in the rain!
Uni is so expensive for everyone ( loans don’t cover accommodation let alone living costs ) I’d suggest something that can provide some transferable skills. Sad really.

Thanks @Soma Cardiff is a good uni, I hear lots of positives about it.
@Righttherights as I replied previously to Catopia, I do think university is different from our time now. I do think you should study what you find interesting and enjoy. University isn’t cheap, but the transferable skills are vitally important. There are many more jobs that can be accessed by having a degree than not. Graduate entry into all kinds of interesting careers that may or may not have any links to your actual degree.
I became a chef after school - I love cooking, but it isn’t a job that is well paid or have reasonable hours. I now cook for the joy of cooking, but have employment in a completely different sector. But that has been a long hard slog to navigate getting up rungs that would have been bypassed with a degree and also the wilderness years of having children.
I want my daughter to enjoy what she studies and then to look to where she wants to go next - she will go in to whichever university course she wants to do with her eyes open about the possibilities (good or bad) in that field at the end of the degree.

I'm a bit surprised to hear righttherights feels they didn't get any transferable skills from archaeology, sorry! I did my archaeology degrees in the 90s too and others from my cohort did all kinds of things. Personally I'm actually an archaeology lecturer now (not at any of the institutions currently mentioned!) so perhaps not the best person to talk about transferable skills for myself(!), but we do spend a lot of time making sure there are a lot of transferable skills in what we teach. Lots of critical thinking, analysis, data handling, comms skills, teamwork, practical skills, teamwork, all covering humanities and the full breadth of the social, natural and physical sciences depending on module choices... Our graduates go off into all kinds of things! Some do go into commercial archaeology, there are actually quite a few jobs in that at the moment though admittedly they're not brilliantly paid. Museums and heritage places, sadly, are indeed notoriously competitive but there are roles there. Most of our grads seem to go into the public sector, teaching, civil service etc. and do very well. They tell me archaeology degrees are real talking points in their interviews and get them a foot in the door to then 'sell' their skills. So good luck to your daughter!

If she comes to York she can volunteer for York Archaeology and perhaps get a part time job as a Viking at Jorvik! I can’t speak for the content of the courses (though York does have some brilliant lecturers) but I know a few students through York Archaeology and they love the opportunities York gives them.

Exactly @QueenRefusenik!! There are so many transferable skills to be gained. Thank you for your contribution. Can you please tell me if there is a huge difference between a BSc and a BA in archaeology? And contact hours - what would you say would be a reasonable weekly amount?

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel that is really good to hear such positive reviews about York and the lecturers and opportunities.

I wouldn’t say she shouldn’t do it - but it would be worth checking that it will lead her to a job she wants later.

The pay for a field archaeologist is absolutely dire, and it’s a difficult career to continue in middle age (too physical). Academic jobs are few and very competitive, and obviously you only hit a decent salary if you get to Prof level. Museum curator pay not quite as bad as field archaeology but pretty bad.

For clarity I do know people with good archaeology degrees from RG universities who’ve gone into other fields and done fine..

But university is so expensive now, and early professional life so tough, that I think I would think about subjects harder than my generation had to in the 90s

Re the BA/BSc distinction it does vary quite a lot between courses and institutions. We do a BA and BSc and there's not really much difference between them to be honest, just a few modules. That's pretty common I think: archaeology is such a broad discipline that while most places will do a similar solid core that covers some science stuff and some more humanities stuff, there will be lots of different optional modules covering more specific things depending on staff expertise. Course websites tend to do a good job of showing the different modules you're likely to be able to choose between, so it's really a case of going through them and asking lots of questions at open days! If in any doubt, email - lecturers are always happy to respond to emails or even chat by phone/zoom. It's often reasonably straightforward to change programmes within a department if all else fails, our programmes all have a common first year specifically to enable this.

A fairly standard workload for students is three modules a semester, so six a year, at ours a module would normally have about three hours contact time, but there may be additional labs and of course there's reading and prep time around that too!

I really wouldn't worry too much about employability - if your daughter doesn't already have a specific career in mind archaeology is just as good a gener springboard as English, history, psychology etc and of course York (and Cardiff!) are well-respected institutions to get any degree from. I know people at both of those institutions (it's a very small world!) and they're both very well-regarded for archaeology.

@QueenRefusenik that’s really helpful, thank you. I know a professor at Cardiff really well - just not in archaeology! It’s just too far away from us for my daughter to consider. No more than 2 hours is her limit.
York has a bioarcheaology undergraduate course that looks really interesting.

Chipping in to back up comments by @QueenRefusenik as another archaeologist, and not in academia. Much of what you describe has changed since the 1990s @Catopia ! But it is true that field archaeology work is tied to construction and so suffers from boom and bust trends, and as mentioned, low pay, tough physical work and contracts can be short term. However there is a great demand for specialists, as the go-to experts retire or change careers. There's a wide range of job options (museums, archives, public sector, community outreach and education, consultancy, survey, research, data managers) but the market is competitive. Archaeology really does give transferrable skills and diverse cross disciplinary knowledge though. Lots of my cohort went into related careers but I think it's harder now. I think it's very worthwhile, but shouldn't be viewed necessarily as vocational.

In terms of uni choice, OP, she should think about what she's particularly interested in. Does she want to do fieldwork? Is she interested in a particular period? UK or international/classical archaeology? Sheffield used to be very good for archaeological science and prehistory but suffered from 'strategic cuts'. The north is blessed with a lot of good archaeology courses - York, Durham, Manchester, UCLAN, Liverpool all well regarded, not to mention Glasgow and Edinburgh over the border.

If you're Midlands/North then UCLan, Leicester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Durham, St Andrews, Nottingham, Liverpool are all worth checking out, with more specialised options at Chester and Birmingham. All good, but all with very different areas of expertise so lots of looking through websites probably needed. Look out for University Archaeology Day too, usually at the British Museum in October time, when representatives from almost all UK universities pitch up to talk to prospective students. Might be a bit of a trek if you're not close to London but perhaps a good excuse for a day out!

Oh and Bradford too!

Has she thought about Anthropology? This covers archaeology, material culture, museum studies...etc....is also sciencey with primatology and lab work...I'm only throwing it out there as another degree which might speak to her interests and give her a nice choice of specialisms.

Agree with commonground, especially if she's interested in bioarchaeology - worth looking at anthropology and archaeology/anthropology joint options too

Thanks everyone, have shown my daughter the thread and it has sent her off exploring other options and possibilities. Lots of open days planned by the looks of it and the UCAS convention in Manchester this week. Though to be fair I’m not exactly sure how much use that will be!