Your complete guide to a master's in Archaeology

Everything you need to know about studying a master's in Archaeology

part of Social Sciences

Archaeology is the scientific study of historical periods and human cultures through the excavation of sites and the analysis of ruins and artefacts. Archaeology examines all kinds of fossils and material remains, from dinosaur bones to human-made tools, from pots and agricultural techniques to building remnants from the 20th or 19th century.

Based on aspects like the subject and period of study, we can divide Archaeology in multiple branches: Bioarchaeology, Zooarchaeology, Paleoethnobotany, Classical Archaeology, Egyptology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, and others.

Archaeology courses will vary from one specialisation to another, but some of the typical subjects are Archaeological Methods, Cultural Anthropology, Human Evolution, Field Archaeology, Forensic Archaeology, The Prehistoric World, Environmental Archaeology, etc.

Students who choose Archaeology are curious by nature and want to be directly involved in the exploration process, digging up remains, coordinating the work at ancient sites, and ensuring the safety and preservation of artefacts and other physical remains.

Archaeology places students on the employment market as archaeologists, heritage managers, museum education officers, museum/gallery curators or even as archivists or cartographers.

Read more

Check out our list of Master's degrees in Archaeology. Keep in mind you can also study an online Masters in Archaeology.

Interesting programmes for you

Best Universities for Archaeology on MastersPortal

Sort by Ranking...
Universities Location TopUniversities Ranking (2018)
University of Oxford Oxford, United Kingdom 1
University of Cambridge Cambridge, United Kingdom 2
UCL London, United Kingdom 3
Durham University Durham, United Kingdom 4
Harvard University Cambridge, United States 5
University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, United States 6
Stanford University Stanford, United States 7
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Los Angeles, United States 8
Leiden University Leiden, Netherlands 9
Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Steglitz, Germany 10
University of York York, United Kingdom 11
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, United States 12
Australian National University Canberra, Australia 13
Sapienza University of Rome Roma, Italy 14
University of Texas at Austin Austin, United States 15
University of Auckland Auckland, New Zealand 16
University of Bordeaux Bordeaux, France 16
University of Tübingen Tübingen, Germany 18
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, United States 19
University of Sydney Sydney, Australia 20
University of Chicago Chicago, United States 21
University of Sheffield Sheffield, United Kingdom 22
Panthéon-Sorbonne University Paris, France 23
The University of Arizona Tucson, United States 24
Aarhus University Aarhus, Denmark 25
Yale University New Haven, United States 26
University of Toronto Pickering, Canada 27
University of Reading Reading, United Kingdom 28
University of Southampton Southampton, United Kingdom 29
University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark 30
The University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan 31
Bologna Business School Bologna, Italy 32
Heidelberg University Heidelberg, Germany 32
Boston University Boston, United States 34
University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada 35
University of Groningen Groningen, Netherlands 36
University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain 37
Frankfurt University of Applied Science Frankfurt am Main, Germany 38
The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, United Kingdom 39
Arizona State University Tempe, United States 40
University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand 40
University of Queensland Saint Lucia, Australia 42
Peking University Beijing, China 43
Simon Fraser University Burnaby, Canada 44
Pennsylvania State University State College, United States 45
University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada 45
National Autonomous University of Mexico Coyoacán, Mexico 47
Columbia University New York City, United States 48
Brown University Providence, United States 49
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands 50
Cardiff University Cardiff, United Kingdom 101
Ecole normale supérieure (ENS) Paris, France 101
Eötvös Loránd University Budapest, Hungary 101
University of Göttingen Göttingen, Germany 101
Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland 101
Jilin University Changchun, China 101
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Mainz, Germany 101
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, United States 101
King's College London London, United Kingdom 101
Nagoya University Nagoya, Japan 101
Nanjing University Nanjing, China 101
Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom 101
Novosibirsk State University Akademgorodok, Russia 101
Politecnico di Milano Milano, Italy 101
Princeton University Princeton, United States 101
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem, Israel 101
The University of Milan Sesto San Giovanni, Italy 101
The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, United States 101
UIT the Arctic University of Norway Tromsø, Norway 101
UCLouvain Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium 101
University College Cork Cork, Ireland 101
University of Bonn Bonn, Germany 101
University of Bradford Bradford, United Kingdom 101
University of California, Davis Davis, United States 101
University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, United States 101
University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, United States 101
University of Florence Florence, Italy 101
University of Geneva Genève, Switzerland 101
University of Glasgow Glasgow, United Kingdom 101
University of Granada Granada, Spain 101
Leipzig University Leipzig, Germany 101
University of Liverpool Liverpool, United Kingdom 101
University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Canada 101
University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, United States 101
University of Montreal Montréal, Canada 101
University of Naples Federico II Naples, Italy 101
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, United States 101
University of Nottingham Nottingham, United Kingdom 101
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, United States 101
University of Siena Siena, Italy 101
University of the Philippines Diliman Bagong Pagasa, Philippines 101
University of Tsukuba Naka, Japan 101
University of Vienna Vienna, Austria 101
University of Warsaw Warsaw, Poland 101
University of Western Ontario London, Canada 101
University of Wisconsin Madison Madison, United States 101
University Toulouse - Jean Jaurès Toulouse, France 101
Utrecht University Utrecht, Netherlands 101
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Brussels, Belgium 101
Washington University in St. Louis Saint Louis, United States 101
Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan Poznan, Poland 151
American University of Beirut Beirut, Lebanon 151
Bar Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel 151
Beijing Normal University Beijing, China 151
Bournemouth University Bournemouth, United Kingdom 151
Hokkaido University Sapporo, Japan 151
Imperial College London London, United Kingdom 151
James Cook University Townsville, Australia 151
Kazan Federal University Kazan, Russia 151
Koc University Istanbul, Turkey 151
Macquarie University Sydney, Australia 151
Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, Canada 151
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens, Greece 151
Northwestern University Evanston, United States 151
Rice University Houston, United States 151
Royal Holloway University of London London, United Kingdom 151
Rutgers University New Brunswick, United States 151
SOAS University of London London, United Kingdom 151
Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, China 151
The City University of New York New York City, United States 151
The Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) Bauru, Brazil 151
The University of Iowa Iowa City, United States 151
Tor Vergata University of Rome Roma, Italy 151
Tufts University Medford, United States 151
Tulane University New Orleans, United States 151
University of Münster Münster, Germany 151
University at Buffalo Buffalo, United States 151
University of Belgrade Belgrade, Serbia 151
University of Coimbra Coimbra, Portugal 151
University of Haifa Haifa, Israel 151
University of Hamburg Hamburg, Germany 151
University of Kent Canterbury, United Kingdom 151
University of Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland 151
University of Lisbon Lisbon, Portugal 151
University of Ljubljana Ljubljana, Slovenia 151
University of Minnesota Minneapolis, United States 151
University of Montpellier Montpellier, France 151
University of New England Armidale, Australia 151
University of Porto Porto, Portugal 151
University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa 151
University of Seville Sevilla, Spain 151
University of Southern California Los Angeles, United States 151
University of Southern Denmark Neder Holluf, Denmark 151
University of Strasbourg Strasbourg, France 151
University of Tartu Tartu, Estonia 151
University of Utah Salt Lake City, United States 151
University of Warwick Coventry, United Kingdom 151
University of Wroclaw Wroclaw, Poland 151
Washington State University Pullman, United States 151
Aix-Marseille University Marseille, France 51
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloníki, Greece 51
Autonomous University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain 51
Autonomous University of Madrid Alcobendas, Spain 51
Cornell University Ithaca, United States 51
Ghent University Ledeberg, Belgium 51
Humboldt University Berlin Berlin, Germany 51
La Trobe University Melbourne, Australia 51
Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) Moscow, Russia 51
Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich München, Germany 51
Lund University Lund, Sweden 51
Melbourne Business School Melbourne, Australia 51
Michigan State University East Lansing, United States 51
Monash University Clayton, Australia 51
New York University New York City, United States 51
The Ohio State University Upper Arlington, United States 51
Queen's University Belfast Belfast, United Kingdom 51
Seoul National University Anyang, South Korea 51
Stockholm University Stockholm, Sweden 51
Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Yaffo, Israel 51
The University of Exeter Exeter, United Kingdom 51
The University of Manchester Manchester, United Kingdom 51
The University of Western Australia Perth, Australia 51
Complutense University of Madrid Madrid, Spain 51
Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) Paris, France 51
University College Dublin Dublin, Ireland 51
University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, United Kingdom 51
University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands 51
University of Bergen Bergen, Norway 51
University of Bern Bern, Switzerland 51
University of Birmingham Birmingham, United Kingdom 51
University of Bristol Bristol, United Kingdom 51
University of Calgary Calgary, Canada 51
University of Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa 51
University of Cologne Köln, Germany 51
University of Florida Gainesville, United States 51
University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany 51
University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland 51
University of Kiel Kiel, Germany 51
University of Leicester Leicester, United Kingdom 51
University of Liège Liège, Belgium 51
University of Oslo Oslo, Norway 51
University of Padua Padua, Italy 51
University of Pisa Pisa, Italy 51
University of St Andrews St Andrews, United Kingdom 51
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Johannesburg, South Africa 51
University of Washington Seattle, United States 51
University of Zurich Zürich, Switzerland 51
University Paris Nanterre Nanterre, France 51
Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden 51
Show per page: 10 | 50 | 100

Specialisations within the field of Social Sciences

Wishlist