Graduate Diploma Archaeology

UCD School of Archaeology's GradDiploma in Archaeology is designed for students interested in the challenges and opportunities in studying the human past. 

Archaeology is the discipline of things, exploring how people in the past created unique societies through their construction, use and perception of landscapes, plants, animals and things. Archaeology can explore the origins and character of past societies, population migrations, and the relationship between human behaviour, landscapes, material culture and climatic and environmental change. Archaeology holds many opportunities for an interesting and rewarding career, in archaeological practice, in cultural heritage and archaeological management and conservation, in museums and curation, in academic research and in public engagement and education. 

Your learning will be built around engaging and training in key archaeological skills, such as Landscape Archaeology, Artefact and Material Culture studies, Environmental Archaeology, Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.), LiDAR and Remote Sensing and Archaeological Field Practice. You will also have the opportunity to take specific modules and design and complete an MSc Dissertation so as to specialise in particularly chronological or cultural periods (e.g. Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age/Roman, Early Medieval, Medieval, Historical/Post-Medieval). You will complete your MSc Dissertation on a chosen topic, supervised by an expert in the field.

UCD School of Archaeology has an international reputation in the study of prehistoric archaeology, with one of the largest groups of researchers in this field anywhere in the world. You will be part of a dynamic, friendly and international postgraduate community in a School with a 160-year history of exceptional archaeological research. Our approach is global in perspective, but you will also be able to explore and study first-hand Ireland’s extraordinary cultural heritage. You will benefit from UCD’s proximity to some of the best-preserved and most spectacular prehistoric monuments and landscapes in Europe as well as to key cultural institutions such as the National Museum of Ireland with its outstanding prehistory collections.

You will learn to combine innovative archaeological and scientific approaches with current theoretical perspectives to examine the material remains of prehistoric societies, developing a sophisticated understanding of how different field and laboratory methods can be employed to answer key research questions in prehistory. You will gain skills in project design and independent research, data analysis and interpretation, and communicating the past to different stakeholder groups.