Archaeology and Ancient History

Archaeology and Ancient History together give you access to the world before and at the dawn of writing, exploring human civilisation through both its material remains and its earliest texts. Archaeology recovers the physical evidence of past societies: the settlements, objects, burials, and landscapes that survive when words do not. Ancient History uses the written sources of the classical world, the inscriptions, papyri, literary texts, and administrative records of Greece, Rome, Egypt, and the Near East, to reconstruct the political, social, and cultural life of antiquity.

The combination allows you to move between the material and the textual, developing a genuinely interdisciplinary understanding of the ancient world.

At Cardiff University, which has particular strengths in Welsh and Roman archaeology and in classical studies, this three-year full-time programme gives you grounding in both disciplines. You will study the theory and method of archaeology, including excavation, artefact analysis, and landscape survey, alongside the history of ancient Greece, Rome, and the wider Mediterranean world. Latin or Ancient Greek may feature in the curriculum, and the history of ancient religion, warfare, politics, and society is addressed throughout.

Cardiff's Welsh and Roman material provides a distinctive regional focus alongside the broader ancient history content.

Graduates from Archaeology and Ancient History pursue careers in museums, heritage organisations, archaeological units, cultural resource management, and academic research. The field skills and research methods developed are directly applicable in commercial archaeology, which employs many graduates in development-led excavation and survey. Teaching, journalism, and the cultural sector are further destinations.

Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in archaeology, classical studies, or ancient history, and the research environment at Cardiff provides a strong foundation for doctoral work. Public archaeology and heritage education are growing areas of practice for graduates who want to connect their knowledge with wider communities.