Archaeology MSc

Level: Postgraduate taught

Subject: Archaeology

Year of entry: 2026

Study options

Mode of study

On campus

Full-time
  • MSc | 1 year | Start date: September 2026
Part-time
  • MSc | 2 years | Start date: September 2026

Key facts

School

School of History, Classics and Archaeology

College

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Study location

Central Area

Accreditation

Not available

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About the degree programme

The MSc Archaeology provides strong foundations for a career in different professional settings, including academia, development-led archaeology, and museums or heritage bodies. 

Studying archaeology at the University of Edinburgh offers opportunities for advanced archaeological research to reimagine and reconstruct the lives of past societies, in ways that also contribute to contemporary themes such as planetary health, endangered heritage, and globalisation.

The degree covers themes in the archaeology of Europe, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Egypt and beyond, and will help you gain new skills in archaeological and heritage sciences, and up-to-date archaeological theory. 

Studying in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology you will benefit from access to interdisciplinary networks and supervision from nationally and internationally-renowned scholars.

Breadth of expertise

We have a wide range of expertise covering different areas, time periods and themes, including

  • Bioarchaeology and isotope studies
  • Egyptology
  • Roman and ‘Celtic’ archaeology  
  • Megalithic monuments
  • Mediterranean archaeology
  • Prehistory of Europe, the Mediterranean and North-East Africa
  • Early civilisations and urban societies
  • The archaeology of Scotland
  • Cultural heritage and sustainability
  • Digital heritage and heritage policy
  • Archaeomaterials analysis  
  • Human evolution
  • Conflict archaeology
  • Medieval archaeology
  • Computational archaeology
  • Marine and coastal archaeology
  • Buildings archaeology
  • Archaeological survey-Landscape Archaeology
Focal areas of research include:
  • Bioarchaeology/ Human Osteoarchaeology/ Biological Anthropology
  • Human–environment interactions
  • The transition from hunter-gatherer to farming communities
  • The development of complex societies
  • Cultural heritage perspectives on the past, present, and future

This short video gives you an introduction to our MSc Archaeology programme from Professor Robin Bendrey.

Study options

The full-time MSc lasts for 12 months from September to the end of August in the following year. To be awarded the MSc degree you must also complete a dissertation.  

The taught courses are worth a total of 120 credit points and are assessed by coursework. Provided you achieve the required standard, you will proceed to a period of individual research from May to August, resulting in a final dissertation worth a further 60 credits.

This degree is also available to study part-time. The part-time MSc lasts 24 months.

Programme benefits

  • Archaeology at Edinburgh offers a wide range of expertise covering different areas, time periods and themes.
  • The flexibility of the MSc Archaeology programme allows you to tailor your studies.
  • Our taught MSc in Archaeology extends your knowledge and develops your skills in this field to an advanced academic and professional level.
  • Edinburgh is an ideal venue for archaeological study and research, allowing you to benefit from national institutions and heritage agencies, such as the excellent collections and resources of the National Museum and the National Library of Scotland.

The resources available, from the library and online article access, to the phenomenal and diverse lecturers.  The abundance of seminar series available to students is incredible.

Sarah MSc Archaeology, graduated 2020
Sarah, MSc Archaeology graduate

Tuition fees

Tuition fees by award and duration

Tuition fees for full-time and part-time options are listed for one academic year.

Full-time
Part-time

Graduate discount

If you are a University of Edinburgh graduate, you will be eligible for a 10% discount on your tuition fees for this programme. You may also be eligible if you were a visiting undergraduate student.

Find out how to receive your graduate discount

Deposit

You do not have to pay a deposit to secure your place on this programme.

Costs

Accommodation and living costs

You need to cover your accommodation and living costs for the duration of your programme.

We estimate that you might spend £1,167 to £2,330 per month if you are a single student.

Living costs include:

  • food
  • utility bills
  • travel, clothes, books and stationery
  • recreational costs (for example, TV subscriptions and social events)

Living costs

Accommodation costs depend on where you live while studying and the type of accommodation you choose.

University postgraduate accommodation options and costs

Funding opportunities

Funding for postgraduate study is different to undergraduate study, and many students need to combine funding sources to pay for their studies.

Most students use a combination of the following funding to pay their tuition fees and living costs:

  • borrowing money
    • taking out a loan
    • family support
  • personal savings
  • income from work
  • employer sponsorship
  • scholarships

Explore sources of funding for postgraduate study

Search for other funding opportunities

You can find scholarships, bursaries and other funding you might be eligible for on our Scholarships and Student Funding site.

Postgraduate funding opportunities

These entry requirements are for the 2026-27 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2027-28 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2026.

Qualifications

A UK 2:1 honours degree, a minimum US 3.25 GPA or international equivalent, in a subject related to this programme, preferably Archaeology or Classical Archaeology, or another degree in which Archaeology figures prominently (such as Anthropology in the case of applicants from the USA).

We will also consider an undergraduate degree in some other subjects such as History, Classics, Ancient History, and Geography if your personal statement demonstrates how you are equipped to undertake the programme.  

Relevant experience, or professional or other qualifications will also be considered.

International qualifications

To find international equivalent qualifications, select where you studied from the country or region list.

English language requirements

You must prove that your English language abilities are at a high enough level to study this degree programme.

This is the case for all applicants, including UK nationals.

You can meet our English language requirements with one of the following:

  • an English language test
  • a degree that was taught and assessed in English
  • certain professional qualifications

English language tests we accept

We accept any of the following English language tests, at the specified grade or higher:

  • IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.0 in each component We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 20 in each component We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
  • C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 169 in each component.
  • Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
  • Oxford ELLT: total 8 with at least 6 in each component.
  • Oxford Test of English Advanced: total 155 with at least 135 in each component.
How old your English language tests can be
Tests no more than two years old

The following English language tests must be no more than two years old on the 1st of the month in which your programme starts, regardless of your nationality:

  • IELTS Academic
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition)
  • Trinity ISE
  • Oxford ELLT
  • Oxford Test of English Advanced
Tests no more than three and a half years old

All other English language tests must be no more than three and a half years old on the 1st of the month in which your programme starts, regardless of your nationality.   

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English-speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration.

UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English-speaking countries (non-MESC).

Approved universities in non-MESC

How old your degree can be

If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old on the 1st of the month in which your programme starts.

This time limit does not apply to your degree if you are a national of a majority English-speaking country.

Find out more about our English language requirements

Find out about other English language qualifications we accept, including professional qualifications.

English language requirements

What you will study

You will complete one compulsory course and select a further five optional courses fro a wide range on offer. We will help you to develop your research interests and choose a suitable dissertation topic.

Compulsory courses

The compulsory course is:

  • Research Sources and Strategies in Archaeology

Option courses

Option courses previously offered include those listed below:

  • Archaeological Illustration
  • Archaeomaterials Analysis
  • Bronze Age Civilisations of the Near East and Greece
  • Archaeology of 'Celtic' Europe: Communities and Interactions
  • The Hittites: The Archaeology of an Ancient Near Eastern Civilisation
  • Human Evolution
  • Conceptualising the Neolithic
  • Conflict archaeology: materialities of violence
  • Biomolecular Archaeology: the appliance of science
  • Issues in Egyptian Archaeology: the Second Intermediate Period until the end of the Late Period
  • Quantitative Methods and Reasoning in Archaeology
  • Archaeology of Late Antique Religion
  • Handling Greek Pottery
  • Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: The Basics and Beyond
  • Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs II: Texts and Contexts
  • The Archaeology of Children and Childhood
  • The Archaeology of Technology: from Prehistory to the Present
  • Theoretical Archaeology
  • Space, Place and Time: the archaeology of built environments
  • Practical Zooarchaeology
  • Themes in Egyptian archaeology: the foundations of the state to the end of the Middle Kingdom
  • Mariners, Monks and Mobility: the archaeology of the early medieval Atlantic Archipelago
  • Marine Archaeology

Find courses for this programme

Find out what courses you can study on this programme and how each of them are taught and assessed.

The courses on offer may change from year to year, but the course information will give you an idea of what to expect on this programme.

Full-time
Part-time

We link to the latest information available. This may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

Disclaimer

Option courses change from year to year and those available when you start your studies may be different from those shown in the list.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

Our wide-ranging programme encompasses theory, methodology and practice. You will undertake a varied schedule of learning, including:

  • lectures
  • seminars
  • practicals
  • individual supervisions

Assessment

The core and option courses are assessed a range of assignments which may include

  • essays
  • short written reports
  • research reports
  • oral presentations
  • posters

The final piece of coursework may often be an essay, which can constitute a high proportion of the overall mark for the course, which is submitted at the end of each course.

Research dissertation

You will undertake a research project and produce a dissertation which is submitted on an assigned date in mid-August.

A topic relevant to the programme of study is selected by the student following consultation with and advice from staff, including the potential supervisor.

Example dissertation topics

Past dissertation topics have included:

  • The Protection, Preservation, and Rehabilitation of Culturally Historic Buildings: A Comparative Analysis of Legislation and Guidelines in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Edinburgh, Scotland.
  • The Domestication of Rivers – The River Clyde as a case study for non-invasive assessment of the symbiotic relationship between humans and rivers
  • Interred in the Deep-delved Earth: An Analysis of Dated Human Remains from British Caves
  • Magnifying Gold: An Archaeometric Overview of the Byzantine Manufacture of Gold Objects
  • Hurricane Helene’s impact on the archaeological and cultural heritage of Western North Carolina

Learning outcomes

You will acquire:

  • an understanding of the distinctive nature of archaeology and its contribution to a critical and informed understanding of the past
  • a good awareness of theoretical and methodological debates within archaeology
  • familiarity with a number of important fieldwork studies
  • a broad knowledge of archaeological methods, techniques and practices in current use

The programme will help you to develop potential research interests and to explore these with a view to progressing to further research. You will also acquire a range of transferable intellectual and practical skills.

Support for your studies

You will have access to a range of support services if you need them throughout your degree.

We will assign you to a student adviser, and this should be the first person to contact if you need help. They can guide you to other University service teams depending on what support you need.  

How we support you

Where you will study

Study location

The majority of teaching will take place in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology.

The School of History, Classics and Archaeology is located in the heart of the city, in the University's Central Area. The Central Area is located on the edge of Edinburgh's historic Old Town, surrounded by lots of green space.

Our building, the William Robertson Wing of the Old Medical School, is Grade A-listed. The building is in the Northern Italian Renaissance style, incorporating design influences from Venice and Bologna, including red-tiled roofs, a corbelled stair turret and palazzo frontages.

Academic facilities

The School of History, Classics and Archaeology resources

Our historic building combines study spaces with exhibition areas hosting a number of significant international collections, including the Vere Gordon Childe collection which allows you to handle, draw and learn from artefacts from the Indus Valley and the Near East including Egypt, and Europe. Additionally we have five archaeological laboratories, including wet processing and bone chemistry labs.

We have our own library, known as the Student Research Room, which is a large airy space used both for study and to house the School’s book collections. Students can also join cross-School research groups which aim to stimulate inter-disciplinary, collaborative research, and widen awareness of individual scholarship.

Laboratories

Postgraduate archaeology students can access a range of laboratories:

Finds processing and thin section laboratory

This dedicated space is for initial post excavation processing and cleaning of artefacts, osteological material, and environmental remains such as soils and sediments. The laboratory is equipped with deep sinks and sediment traps for wet sieving as well as drying ovens and benches for laying out material. It is also equipped with a fume cupboard and cutting, mounting and grinding equipment for the preparation of thin-sections for microscopy.

Chemical laboratory

This room is equipped for pre-treatment and collagen extraction of samples for stable isotope analysis; this area is also used for the preparation of environmental samples involving wet chemistry. The facilities and instruments available include a large programmable furnace, fume cupboards, drying ovens, autoclave, centrifuges, a freeze drier, precision electronic balances, a Millipore water purification system, as well as Endecott sieves and pH meters.

Microscopy laboratory

The microscopy lab is equipped with a suite of microscopes including stereo microscopes, compound incident, transmitted and polarized light microscopes, and USB dinolites. These instruments have a wide range of research applications and are used in the analysis of artefacts, environmental remains (e.g. palynological samples) and ceramic and histological thin-sections.

Archaeology teaching laboratory

This large, well-equipped teaching laboratory houses extensive and comprehensive human and animal bone reference collections as well as hominin and primate casts. It is equipped with microscopes, identification atlases, calipers and osteometric boards.

Osteology laboratory

Located adjacent to the human and animal reference collections, this laboratory is a facility designed for osteological research. Archaeology has facilities for 3D scanning of artefacts and osteological remains.

Additional facilities

Additional facilities and services for materials analysis are available within the University of Edinburgh, including XRD/XRF, scanning electron and confocal microscopy,  and also CT and μCT scans and specialised imaging software. Archaeology also benefits from strong links to National Museums Scotland and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre at East Kilbride.

The University's resources

The University Library is one of the largest university libraries in the UK and contains a substantial collection of primary and secondary materials and a vast collection of rare books and manuscripts.

The City of Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a historic city where the earliest human habitation is traced back to a Mesolithic campsite dated to c. 8500 BC. With numerous archaeological sites (prehistoric, Roman and medieval) on your doorstep, Edinburgh provides the perfect setting in which to study Archaeology.

The Archaeology subject area has links with various museums and heritage agencies (including Historic Environment Scotland) located in the city. Edinburgh is also home to many national commercial archaeological companies, which can provide career advice and development opportunities.

Career opportunities

The programme equips you to go on to advanced study, and also provides a solid foundation for a career.

In addition to academic development, you will be able to acquire analytical and teamwork skills, which can be applied in a variety of contexts.

Examples of career paths available to archaeology graduates (although some may require additional training) include: 

  • higher education
  • heritage management and agencies
  • commercial archaeology
  • environmental assessment
  • schools (if combined with another subject)
  • tourism/travel

An archaeology degree does not, of course, restrict you to a career in archaeology. You may develop your own career pathway in unusual ways or branch into related fields, while maintaining a lifelong interest and involvement in archaeological work and research.

Further study

After completing this programme, you may wish to consider applying for a PhD or other research programme.

Applying for research degrees

Moving on to a PhD (advice from the University's Careers Service)

Graduate profiles

Ashley

Ashley MSc Archaeology graduate

Degree: MSc Archaeology

Year of graduation: 2021

Current work: Senior Consultant Archaeologist at ERM

Coming to Edinburgh was one of the best decisions I have made. Deciding to pursue an MSc was the first thing I ever really did for myself. It was by no means easy but is so rewarding.

Passions and connections - Ashley

Careers Service

Our Careers Service can help you to fully develop your potential and achieve your future goals. 

The Careers Service supports you not only while you are studying at the University, but also for up to two years after you finish your studies. 

With the Careers Service, you can: 

  • access digital resources to help you understand your skills and strengths
  • try different types of experiences and reflect on how and what you develop
  • get help finding work, including part-time jobs, vacation work, internships and graduate jobs
  • attend careers events and practice interviews
  • get information and advice to help you make informed decisions 

Visit the Careers Service website 

How to apply

You apply online for this programme. After you read the application guidance, select your preferred programme, then choose 'Start your application' to begin.

If you are considering applying to more than one programme, you should be aware that we cannot consider more than 5 applications from the same applicant.

When to apply

Programme start date Application deadline
14 September 2026 30 July 2026

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible so that we have enough time to process your application. This is particularly important if you are also applying for funding or will require a visa. Applications may close earlier than published deadlines if there is exceptionally high demand.

For an application to be reviewed, it must be a complete application by the application deadline with all supporting documentation uploaded, including your transcripts.

If you already have evidence that you meet the English language entry requirements, such as via an approved English language test, please upload this evidence at the time of your application. If you have not already met your English language requirements, we will still review your application and issue a decision providing it is otherwise complete.

Application fee

There is no fee to apply to this programme.

What you need to apply

As part of your online application, you will need to provide: 

You will also need to submit some or all of the following supporting documents:

When you start your application, you will be able to see the full list of documents you need to provide.

References

You do not need to provide a reference when you submit your application for this programme.

There may be certain circumstances when a reference will be required, for example if we need to verify work experience. If that is the case, we will contact you after we have reviewed your application to request a reference.

Apply

Select the award, duration and delivery mode you want to study. Then select the start date you want to apply for.

After you apply

Once you have applied for this programme, you will be able to track the progress of your application and accept or decline any offers.

Checking the status of your application

We will notify you by email once we have made a decision. Due to the large number of applications we receive, it might take a while until you hear from us.

Receiving our decision

What to do if you receive an offer:

Accommodation

We guarantee an offer of University accommodation for all new, single postgraduate taught students from outside the UK and new, single postgraduate research (typically PhD) students who:

  • apply for accommodation by 31 July in the year when you start your programme
  • accept an unconditional firm offer to study at the University by 31 July
  • study at the University for the whole of the academic year starting in September

University accommodation website

Accommodation guarantee criteria

We also offer accommodation options for couples and families.

Accommodation for couples and families

If you prefer to live elsewhere, we can offer you advice on finding accommodation in Edinburgh.

Accommodation information from the Edinburgh University Students' Association Advice Place

Societies and clubs

Our societies and sports clubs will help you develop your interests, meet like-minded people, find a new hobby or simply socialise.

Societies

Sport Clubs

The city of Edinburgh

Scotland's inspiring capital will form the background to your studies — a city with an irresistible blend of history, natural beauty and modern city life. 

Find out more about living in Edinburgh

Health and wellbeing support

You will have access to free health and wellbeing services throughout your time at university if you need them.

The support services we offer include: 

  • a student counselling service
  • a health centre (doctor's surgery)
  • support if you're living in University accommodation
  • dedicated help and support if you have a disability or need adjustments

Health and wellbeing support services 

Disability and Learning Support

General enquiries

Have a question about postgraduate study?

Postgraduate enquiries

Academic contact

Professor Robin Bendrey (PhD, BA (Hons), FSA Scot)

Programme Director

Contact details

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