Archaeology unlocks the mysteries of humanity’s past. Archaeologists discover and excavate archaeological sites and interpret the material recovered from them.

Our well-regarded degree is specifically designed to prepare you for a successful career in archaeology, either as a researcher or heritage consultant.

You will be trained in methods of archaeological investigation and develop both skills, experience and knowledge of fieldwork, museums and heritage and community engagement. Unique to Australia, this degree takes a global outlook on the practice of archaeology and the production of knowledge about past societies.

Throughout the ANU Bachelor of Archaeological Practice you will have exciting opportunities to participate in local or international fieldwork experiences.

Digital + Material

Innovation + Engagement

Combine cutting-edge digital practices with internationally-renowned art and craft studio disciplines in the Bachelor of Design.

Design students will benefit from deep immersion in digital, manual and theoretical studies and a wide overview of creative practices. From coding, to making, to manufacture, students apply hands-on design to digital and physical materials. Students delve into web design, data visualisation, and interaction design, and experiment in studios to develop expertise in the latest digital form and fabrication processes.

This degree prepares students with transferable knowledge and skills required to make their mark on a rapidly changing world.

Employment Opportunities

The technical and analytical skills learned through this program provide highly practical knowledge, skills and training in the methods of archaeological investigation. Graduates may find work in Commonwealth heritage agencies, national parks, mining companies, as independent consultants, advisors to Aboriginal Land councils and many other fields.

The technical and analytical skills learned through this program provide highly practical knowledge, skills and training in the methods of archaeological investigation. Graduates may find work in Commonwealth heritage agencies, national parks, mining companies, as independent consultants, advisors to Aboriginal Land councils and many other fields.

Learning Outcomes

1. undertake archaeological fieldwork using different techniques and approaches to locate, map, record, collect and excavate archaeological materials by determining the conditions in which those techniques and approaches are optimal;

2. critically analyse archaeological materials, including the examination of human remains, artefacts, archaeo-fauna and archaeo-flora, archaeological sediments and other materials;

3. apply interpretative approaches and skills including archaeological theory and quantitative analysis;

4. design ethical research frameworks and practise their application, including Indigenous community and stakeholder consultation and collaboration; and

5. reconstruct humanity’s evolutionary history, archaeological sequences, past human practices, culture histories, and palaeoenvironments.

1. demonstrate skills and knowledge of the practices, languages, forms, materials and technologies in their relevant discipline;

2. research, develop and evaluate design concepts and processes by thinking creatively, critically and reflectively;

3. apply skills and knowledge to the creation, visualisation and production of design projects;

4. work independently and collaboratively on design projects and respond to project demands;

5. interpret, communicate and present ideas, problems and arguments in modes suited to a range of audiences; and

6. recognise and reflect on social, cultural technological, environmental and ethical issues of creative practice and design considering local and international perspectives.

Admission Requirements

At a minimum, all applicants must meet program-specific academic/non-academic requirements, and English language requirements. Admission to most ANU programs is on a competitive basis. Therefore, meeting all admission requirements does not guarantee entry into the program.

In line with the university's admissions policy and strategic plan, an assessment for admission may include competitively ranking applicants on the basis of specific academic achievement, English language proficiency and diversity factors.

The University reserves the right to alter or discontinue its programs and change admission requirements as needed.

Domestic applicants

Before applying for a program, you should review the general information about domestic undergraduate admission to ANU programs and how to apply, and the program-specific information below.

• Applicants with recent secondary education are assessed on:
  • completion of Australian Year 12 or equivalent, and the minimum Selection Rank (from their academic qualifications, plus any adjustment factors) requirement for this program; and
  • co-curricular or service requirement (applies to applicants who complete secondary education in the year prior to commencing at ANU); and
  • English language proficiency; and
  • any program-specific requirements listed below.
• Applicants with higher education study are assessed on:
  • previous higher education studies; or secondary education results if completed less than one full-time equivalent year (1.0 FTE) of a degree; or the result from a bridging or preparatory course; and
  • English language proficiency; and
  • any program-specific requirements listed below.
• Applicants with vocational education and training (VET) study are assessed on:
  • previously completed VET qualifications at AQF level 5 or higher (i.e. a Diploma or above); or secondary education results if the VET qualification is not completed; and
  • English language proficiency; and
  • any program-specific requirements listed below.
• Applicants with work and life experience are assessed on:
  • ATAR or equivalent if secondary education was completed; or the Special Adult Entry Scheme (SAES); or work experience; and
  • English language proficiency; and
  • any program-specific requirements listed below.

International applicants

Applicants who complete a recognised secondary/senior secondary/post-secondary/tertiary sequence of study will be assessed on the basis of an equivalent selection rank that is calculated upon application. A list of commonly observed international qualifications and corresponding admission requirements can be found here. Applicants must also meet any program specific requirements that are listed below.

Diversity factors & English language proficiency  
As Australia's national university, ANU is global representative of Australian research and education. ANU endeavours to recruit and maintain a diverse and deliberate student cohort representative not only of Australia, but the world. In order to achieve these outcomes, competitive ranking of applicants may be adjusted to ensure access to ANU is a reality for brilliant students from countries across the globe. If required, competitive ranking may further be confirmed on the basis of demonstrating higher-level English language proficiency.

Further information is available for English Language Requirements for Admission

Adjustment Factors

Adjustment factors are additional points added to an applicant's Selection Rank (for example an applicant's ATAR). ANU offers adjustment factors based on performance and equity principles, such as for high achievement in nationally strategic senior secondary subjects and for recognition of difficult circumstances that students face in their studies. 

Selection Rank adjustments are granted in accordance with the approved schedules, and no more than 15 (maximum 5 subject/performance-based adjustment factors and maximum 10 equity-based adjustment factors) can be awarded. 

You may be considered for adjustment factors if you have:

• applied for an eligible ANU Bachelor degree program
• undertaken Australian Year 12 or the International Baccalaureate
• achieved an ATAR or equivalent at or above 70
• not previously attempted tertiary study.

Please visit the ANU Adjustment Factors website for further information.

Scholarships

ANU offers a wide range of scholarships to students to assist with the cost of their studies.

Eligibility to apply for ANU scholarships varies depending on the specifics of the scholarship and can be categorised by the type of student you are.  Specific scholarship application process information is included in the relevant scholarship listing.

For further information see the Scholarships website.

Program Requirements

The Bachelor of Archaeological Practice flexible double degree component requires completion of 96 units, of which:

A maximum of 36 units may come from completion of 1000-level courses

The 96 units must include:The Bachelor of Archaeological Practice flexible double degree component requires completion of 96 units, of which:

A maximum of 36 units may come from completion of 1000-level courses

The 96 units must include:

12 units from completion of the following compulsory courses:

ARCH1111 Archaeology Uncovered

ARCH1112 From Origins to Civilizations

A maximum of 30 units from completion of courses from the following list:

ARCH2004 Australian Archaeology

ARCH2007 Archaeological Laboratory Methods

ARCH2022 Study Tour: Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Change

ARCH2037 Post-Roman Archaeology of Britain: From Arthur to the Black Death 

ARCH2041 Introduction to Environmental Archaeology

ARCH2050 Archaeology of Southeast Asia

ARCH2052 Archaeology in Film and Fiction

ARCH2056 Britons and Romans: Archaeology of the Western Roman Empire 

ARCH2058 European Prehistory from Cultivation to the Celts

ARCH2060 International Archaeological Field School Extension

ARCH2061 Archaeological Field Methods

ASIA2203 Archaeology of China

ASIA2301 Human Migration and Expansion in the Rise of the Asia-Pacific

BIAN2015 Human Skeletal Analysis

BIAN2128 Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology

HUMN2051 Introduction to Cultural Heritage Management

INDG2001 Indigenous Cultural and Natural Resource Management

A maximum of 12 units from completion of courses from the following list:

ARCH2055 Archaeological Fieldschools and Fieldwork Practice

ARCH2059 International Archaeological Field School

A minimum of 6 units must come from completion of courses from the following list:

ARCH3023 Thinking Through the Past: Archaeological Theory from 1950

ARCH3026 History of Archaeology: Discovering the Past

ARCH3028 Archaeology of Death and Mortuary Practices

ARCH3030 Archaeology of Ritual and Religion

ARCH3108 Animal and Plant Domestication

ASIA3051 Study Tour: Archaeology in Asia

BIAN3010 Scientific Dating in Archaeology and Palaeoenvironmental Studies

BIAN3113 Human Evolution

BIAN3125 Ancient Health and Disease

ENVS3029 Palaeo-Environmental Reconstruction

48 units from completion of the two following minors:

Advanced Environmental Archaeology

Archaeology of Aboriginal Australia in its Regional and Cultural Context

The Bachelor of Design flexible double degree component requires completion of 96 units, of which:

A maximum of 42 units may come from completion of 1000-level courses

The 96 units must include:

36 units from completion of the following compulsory courses:

DESN1002 Visual Communication: Design and Production

DESN1003 Contemporary Design in Context

DESN1004 The Past as Prototype: History, Ethics and Concepts for Design in the Twenty-First Century

DESN2008 Design Thinking: Human-Centred Design Methodologies

DESN3010 Design Studio: Independent Practice

DESN3011 Design Studio: Engagement and Collaboration

A minimum of 6 units from the completion of foundation courses from the following list:

ARTV1020 Figure and Life

ARTV1021 Image and Object

ARTV1033 Hold Everything: Studio Foundation

DESA1021 Precise Drawing and Model Making

A minimum of 12 units from the completion of interdisciplinary concepts and theories courses from the following list:

ANTH1002 Culture and Human Diversity: Introducing Anthropology

ANTH1003 Global Citizen: Culture, Development and Inequality

ANTH2005 Traditional Australian Indigenous Cultures, Societies and Environment

ANTH2009 Culture and Development

ANTH2017 Culture, Social Justice and Aboriginal Society Today

ANTH2025 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective

ANTH2026 Medicine, Healing and the Body

ANTH2132 Food for Thought: Anthropological Theories of Food and Eating

ANTH2134 States and Citizens: Anthropological Perspectives

ARTH1006 Art and Design Histories: Form and Space

ARTH1007 Art and Design Histories: Making and Meaning

ARTH2043 After the Bauhaus: Design from the Interwar Period to the Age of Climate Crisis

ARTH2162 Art in the Digital Age

ARTH2167 Issues in Contemporary Craft and Design

ARTH2080 Art and Visual Culture of the Long Eighteenth Century, 1660-1815

ARTH2098 Australian First Nations Art and Culture

ARTH2174 Art, Medicine, Gender from the Renaissance until Today

ENVS1001 Environment and Society: Geography of Sustainability

ENVS1003 Introduction to Environmental and Social Research

ENVS1004 Australia’s Environment

ENVS1008 Sustainable Development

GEND1001 Sex, Gender and Identity: An Introduction to Gender Studies

GEND1002 Reading Popular Culture: An Introduction to Cultural Studies

GEND2023 Gender, Sex and Sexuality: An Introduction to Feminist Theory

GEND2034 Going Public: Sex, Sexuality and Feminism

GEND2036 Excessive Appetites: Sociocultural Perspectives on Addiction and Drug Use

GEND2057 Relationships, Marriage and Family

HUMN1001 Digital Culture: Being Human in the Information Age

HUMN2001 Introduction to Digital Humanities and Public Culture - Tools, Theories and Methods

INDG1001 Indigenous Peoples, Populations and Communities

INDG1002 First Peoples' experiences and ways of being: resilience, agency, resurgence and rights

INDG2001 Indigenous Cultural and Natural Resource Management

PHIL1004 Fundamental Ideas in Philosophy: An Introduction

PHIL1005 Logic and Critical Thinking

PHIL1007 What is Humanity?

PHIL1008 Introduction to Ethics

PSYC1003 Psychology 1: Understanding Mind, Brain and Behaviour

PSYC1004 Psychology 2: Understanding People in Context

PSYC1005 The Wellbeing Formula: The Science and Practice of Making a Good Life

SOCY1002 Self and Society

SOCY1004 Analysing the Social World: An Introduction to Social Psychology

SOCY1006 Society & Technological Change

A minimum of 24 units from completion of design courses from the following list:

DESN2001 Digital Form and Fabrication

DESN2002 Foundations of Creative Code

DESN2003 Creative Data Visualisation: Representing Data in Visual and Material Form

DESN2004 Dynamic Design and Generative Systems

DESN2006 Front-End Web: Crafting Online Experience

DESN2007 Design Fiction: Speculative and Critical Design

DESN2009 Typography in Context: Digital Typographic Design

DESN2010 Making Creative and Critical Technologies: Physical Computing for Art and Design

DESN2012 The Ethics of Making: Design for Reuse and Repair

A maximum of 18 units from completion of studio courses listed in the:

Visual Arts Practice Minor

Minors

Bachelor of Archaeological Practice Minors

Bachelor of Design Minors

Study Options