Archaeology/English Literature

Archaeology and English literature is a combination that brings together two disciplines equally concerned with the traces that human beings leave behind, one material and one textual. Archaeology reconstructs the past through objects, structures, landscapes, and environmental evidence, asking how societies were organised, how people lived, and how the material world shaped and was shaped by human activity. English literature examines written texts as expressions of imagination, culture, and experience, attending to how language creates meaning, how literary traditions evolve, and how texts reflect and challenge the societies that produced them.

Studied together, they develop a rich toolkit for engaging with the human past and present.

At the University of Glasgow, this part-time programme is designed for students who need to balance their studies with other commitments, offering a flexible route into this unusual and rewarding combination. The programme includes a year abroad, which allows you to study in an international academic context and to encounter different traditions of archaeological and literary scholarship. You will develop expertise in archaeological methods and theory alongside the skills of literary analysis and critical interpretation, building the kind of broad humanistic understanding that is increasingly valued across the cultural and creative sectors.

Graduates of this combination are well suited to careers in heritage, museums and galleries, archiving, publishing, education, cultural journalism, and the broader arts and culture sector. The combination of material and textual analysis is particularly valuable in roles concerned with the interpretation and communication of cultural heritage to diverse audiences. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in archaeology, English, medieval studies, or related humanities disciplines, and the analytical and writing skills developed in the programme are applicable across a wide range of professional contexts.