Archaeology & History
This course offers a Joint Honours degree programme examining the human past from a broad humanities-based perspective, drawing on both physical and textual evidence, and including the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in working with archaeological material and undertaking fieldwork.
| Award Name | Degree - Honours Bachelor at UK Level 6 |
|---|---|
| NFQ Classification | |
| Awarding Body | Queens University Belfast |
| NFQ Level |
| Award Name | NFQ Classification | Awarding Body | NFQ Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Degree - Honours Bachelor at UK Level 6 | Queens University Belfast |
Duration
3 years (Full Time)
6 years (Part Time)
Entry Requirements
Irish leaving certificate requirements
H3H3H3H3H4H4/H3H3H3H3H3
Careers / Further progression
Employment Links
We regularly consult and develop links with a large number of employers including, for example, the Historic Environment Division at the Department for Communities, National Trust, Ulster Wildlife Trust, who provide both snapshot advice on their work, as well as run more in-depth advice sessions, the latter often at taught Masters level. We also run a careers seminar programme with guest speaker employers and further-study coordinators (teacher training, Masters and PhD degrees).
We benefit greatly from housing the Centre for Community Archaeology (Archaeological Fieldwork) in the School. This self-funded private unit obtains commercial work from the Department for Communities, landscape partnerships, Heritage Lottery Fund, the police and civil engineering companies, thus exposing students to employers, but also providing the teaching with information on what the current employment market requires from Archaeology and History graduates.
Further information
Start date: September 2024
Deadlines for on-time applications
2024 entry application deadlines
For courses starting in 2024 (and for deferred applications), your application should be with us at UCAS by one of these dates – depending on what courses you apply for. If your completed application – including all your personal details and your academic reference – is submitted by the deadline, it is guaranteed to be considered.
16 October 2023 for 2024 entry at 18:00 (UK time) – any course at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or for most courses in medicine, veterinary medicine/science, and dentistry. You can add choices with a different deadline later, but don’t forget you can only have five choices in total.
31 January 2024 for 2024 entry at 18:00 (UK time) – for the majority of courses.
Some course providers require additional admissions tests to be taken alongside the UCAS application, and these may have a deadline. Find out more about these tests at https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/admissions-tests
Check course information in the search tool to see which deadline applies to you at the application weblink below.
Apply as soon as possible: Student funding arrangements mean that as offers are made and places fill up, some courses may only have vacancies for students from certain locations. It’s therefore really important that you apply for your chosen courses by the appropriate deadlines mentioned above, as not all courses will have places for all students.
All applications received after 30 June are entered into Clearing - find out more about Clearing at https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/clearing-and-results-day/what-clearing
Archaeology explores a wide range of evidence that documents the human past – from artefacts, monuments and settlements to entire landscapes – and from these interprets how societies have adapted and developed. Modules focus on different periods of World, European and Irish/British archaeology, from human origins to modern times and heritage. Queen's University Belfast is one of the best places to study Archaeology in the UK, scoring third place for student experience in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022 and, once again, first place for student satisfaction in the Complete University Guide 2022.
History at Queen's offers students a wide choice of modules. Courses span a long chronological period from Ancient History through to the Contemporary History of the late twentieth century. The modules on offer also cover a wide geographical area that includes Ireland, England, Scotland, Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. Students can choose modules that focus on gender, social and cultural history, colonial history, politics, religious and economic change.
The combined disciplines progressively develop general and specific knowledge and skills, through excavation, fieldwork, overseas fieldtrips, laboratory and practical work. A wide range of career options are available to our graduates including careers in commercial archaeology, survey, heritage management and many more, both within and beyond the heritage sector.
As well as the Joint Honours BA in Archaeology and History, Queen's offers Single Honours degrees in Archaeology (BA) and Archaeology-Palaeoecology (BSc) along with other degree programmes which combine Archaeology (the study of past human activities) with other subjects (Languages and Geography). All of those Single Honours and Joint Honours degrees offer a module pathway that is fully accredited by the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) and University Archaeology UK (UAUK).
Course Structure
Introduction
All students normally take six courses per stage (a stage equals one academic year of full-time study), each covering a distinct theme. Single Honours students normally take at least five Archaeology/Palaeoecology courses. Students on Joint Honours degree programmes normally take three Archaeology/Palaeoecology courses, in addition to three courses from their second subject.
Students enrolled on this programme have the opportunity to undertake an optional additional year of study, either between Stages 2 and 3 or after completing
Stage 3, spent studying abroad or on a workplace placement.
Note: some modules may be subject to change
Stage 1
Themes covered in Stage 1 include an introduction to world archaeology and to exploring history.
Stage 1 Optional Courses
Optional courses at Stage 1 explore, amongst other themes, the relationship between history and historians, European prehistory, archaeological fieldwork techniques and historical archaeology in a global context.
Stage 2
At Stage 2, students explore in more detail the themes introduced at Stage 1 and develop both their theoretical background knowledge and their practical skills, with some scope for specialisation. In particular, Stage 2 courses provide competencies and concepts necessary for the dissertation that is normally taken at Stage 3, and for future employment in Archaeology, History and a wide range of other fields.
Stage 2 Optional Courses
Optional courses at Stage 2 are generally survey modules seeking to convey a sense of the principal events, trends and developments in a particular region over time, including Ireland from prehistory to the 20th century, the Ancient World, Europe during the Middle Ages, and the Americas. Other optional modules at Stage 2 focus on archaeological, palaeoenvironmental and geospatial techniques.
Stage 3
At Stage 3, students dedicate a substantial part of their time to their chosen dissertation project, building on the knowledge and skills they have acquired through Stages 1 and 2.
Stage 3 Optional Courses
Students at Stage 3 have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of optional courses focusing on specialist themes, ranging in time from the evolution of early humans to the Middle Ages, and covering fields as diverse as population studies, ritual and religion, prehistoric monuments, ancient cities, the rise of Christianity, the American Civil War, working-class communities in the United Kingdom and Thatcher's Britain.
Supplement – Optional Additional Year
Students enrolled on this programme have the opportunity to undertake an optional additional year of study, either between Stages 2 and 3 or after completing Stage 3. The additional year can be spent studying abroad at one of our international partner universities or on a UK or international workplace placement. Depending on the chosen option, the degree title awarded will then be ‘BA Archaeology and History with International Study’, ‘BA Archaeology and History with Placement’, or ‘BA Archaeology and History with International Placement’.
Admissions
Tel: 028 9097 3838
Fax: 028 9097 5151
Email address: admissions@qub.ac.uk