Archaeology attempts to give an overview of the diversity of human experience as it is manifested in the material record. Stress is placed on the historical development and contemporary cultural and political significance of the discipline. Fieldwork and other 'hands-on' aspects of archaeology are fundamental to all levels of the degree course. The variety of human societies that can be studied within the degree ranges from prehistoric Europe and the Near East to the Classical World, Islamic East Africa and Colonial Australia.

Archaeology graduates have a good record of obtaining jobs and archaeology is seen as excellent job training by a wide range of employers, not just in field archaeology, heritage management, planning and museums, but in a wide range of other professions Increasingly, archaeology is recognised as producing graduates who are literate, numerate, who can work in groups and are at home with both abstract and practical knowledge.