Archaeology and History

Archaeology and history are disciplines that share a fundamental purpose: understanding the human past. History does so primarily through written records, tracing events, ideas, and social change through documents, texts, and images. Archaeology recovers the material dimensions of the past, excavating and interpreting the objects, structures, and landscapes that people left behind, often reaching periods and places for which no written record survives.

Together, they give you access to the full breadth of human experience across time and space, with complementary methods that enrich each other's findings.

At Queen's University Belfast, this three-year full-time joint honours degree examines the human past from a broad humanities perspective, drawing on both physical and textual evidence and providing the chance to gain hands-on experience with archaeological material and fieldwork. The archaeology strand covers a wide range of evidence, from artefacts, monuments, and settlements to entire landscapes, and you will study periods from human origins to modern times, with particular attention to world, European, and Irish and British archaeology. Practical archaeology and heritage practice are embedded in the curriculum, and the fieldwork component gives you direct experience of how archaeological knowledge is actually produced.

The history strand develops your skills in reading and interpreting documentary evidence, situating events and processes in their broader historical context and developing the critical and analytical capacities that the discipline demands.

QUB's location in Belfast, a city with a rich and complex history and a vibrant heritage sector, provides an exceptional context for the combined study of archaeology and history.

Graduates go on to careers in archaeology, heritage management, museums and galleries, archives, education, publishing, and the civil service. Many pursue postgraduate study in archaeology, history, or heritage studies, building specialist expertise for professional or research roles.