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Central Campus

Content

This innovative joint honours programme combines two related yet distinct approaches to the study of human cultures, past and present. Taking this programme shows an openness to ideas and perspectives other than your own, an essential attribute in many careers and a global marketplace.

Year 1:
You will study Scottish cultural history, heritage, cultural expression and representation. Courses also look at literature, music and visual arts and how these are linked to Scottish identity. You will study Archaeology 1A and Archaeology 1B. These courses offer a broad introduction to our human past, identifying crucial events in human history and pre-history, from the evolution of the first humans several million years ago, to the emergence of farming and the development of civilisations in Europe, Egypt and the Near East.

Year 2:
You will study oral and visual representations of Scotland through music, song, art, photography and film and you will receive practical training in ethnographic fieldwork techniques and ethics. You will study the archaeology of Scotland, from the earliest evidence of human occupation at the end of the last ice age to the Roman invasion in the early 1st millennium AD.

Year 3:
You will choose from options such as Ethnological Fieldwork Methods, Traditional Narrative, Cultural Revivalism, Traditional Song, Scotland and Heritage, and Traditional Drama. You will study theoretical archaeology, which explores the history of archaeology from its antiquarian beginnings in the 18th and 19th centuries and its development as an academic discipline.

Year 4:
This is the second of your honours years, when you will continue to specialise in the aspects of Scottish Ethnology and Archaeology which interest you most. You will also complete your dissertation, which gives you the opportunity to research a topic in depth. This can be in either Scottish Ethnology or Archaeology.

Entry Requirements

2026 entry requirements

Standard entry:
4 Highers at ABBB (first sitting) or 4 or 5 Highers at AABB/ABBBB (two sittings) plus English at National 5.

Widening access entry:
4 Highers at ABBB (two sittings) plus English at National 5. Highers at BBB must be achieved in one sitting.