BA Archaeology and History
About this course
Archaeology and history are two disciplines that together offer a remarkably complete engagement with the human past. History analyses written records, documents and texts to trace how societies have changed, how events unfolded and how people in the past understood their own worlds. Archaeology recovers and interprets the physical remains of past human activity, from excavated sites and artefacts to landscapes and environmental evidence, often revealing aspects of the past that written records cannot reach. Studied together, they provide complementary methods and perspectives for investigating everything from prehistoric societies to the relatively recent past. At the University of Chester, this three-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner institution in another country and broaden your understanding of how different traditions of historical and archaeological scholarship approach the past. You will engage with historical research and source analysis alongside archaeological fieldwork methods, material culture studies and the theoretical frameworks used to interpret physical evidence. Chester's location in a region with a rich archaeological landscape, including Roman Chester itself, provides a distinctive local context for learning. Graduates work in museums, heritage organisations, local government archaeology units, historic environment bodies, archives, education, publishing, journalism, the civil service and the charitable sector. The combination of textual research skills and material culture expertise is particularly valued in heritage and conservation work, while the analytical and communication skills developed across both disciplines are transferable to many professional environments beyond the heritage sector. Postgraduate study in archaeology, history, heritage management, museum studies or archives and records management is a natural next step for those who wish to develop specialist expertise or pursue professional roles in particular areas.
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