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The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are world-renowned for their archaeological heritage sites, such as Skara Brae, Maeshowe, the Camster Cairns and Mousa Broch, so there's no better place to study archaeology. Students and researchers also benefit from being part of a vibrant archaeological community.

Access Routes

Undergraduate Degrees

Taught Masters Degrees

Optional Modules

Many of the modules in our programmes are available on a standalone/CPD basis. Contact us at studyarchaeology@uhi.ac.uk for details.

Research Degrees

You can study for either an MRes (Master of Research) or PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in Archaeology, or in cross-disciplinary areas, enabling you to develop your own interests and ideas alongside a lively group of postgraduate research students undertaking research into a wide variety of topics at the UHI Archaeology Institute.

You can study as a full-time or part-time student, either at a UHI campus or by Distance study mode.

More information on UHI Research degrees

Research at the UHI Archaeology Institute falls within the following themes:

  • Environment and Landscape
  • North Atlantic Communities
  • Prehistories
  • Archaeology for the Future

Cross-cutting: sustainability; Islands and Coastal; Heritage Management; Art/Archaeology

Our staff would welcome proposals for postgraduate research in the following areas:

  • Burial archaeology
  • Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age Scotland
  • Cultural Heritage Management – global
  • Climate change and Heritage
  • Islands Archaeology, including Polynesia
  • Mammalian and avian zooarchaeology – traditional, biomolecular and histological approaches
  • Animals in the Viking and Norse world
  • The archaeology of food, fodder and commensality
  • Agro-pastoralism in northern latitudes
  • Intertidal archaeology and submerged landscapes
  • Ancient/Native woodlands of the British Isles and Ireland
  • Woodland management and charcoal production (prehistoric to recent)
  • Prehistoric to Post-Medieval Agricultural Practices
  • Landscape reconstruction and human agency
  • The relationship between art and archaeology
  • Contemporary archaeology and heritage
  • Graffiti and mark-making practices
  • Archaeology of medicine
  • Human remains as artefacts
  • Forensic archaeology
  • Archaeobotanical interpretation of economy and subsistence
  • Soil micromorphology
  • Geoarchaeology
  • Human-environment interaction; hunter-gatherers/mobility in climatic and environmental context
  • Climate of the last glacial cycle; climatic contexts for human dispersals
  • Landscape change and geomorphology
  • Zooarchaeology (particularly fish, marine shells and/or marine mammals)
  • Human diet in the later medieval and post-medieval periods (interdisciplinary project, involving history and archaeology)
  • Post-medieval whaling and sealing
  • Medieval and later landscapes of belief and identity in the Scottish Northern Isles
  • Maritime pilgrimage in the North Atlantic
  • Church archaeology in the Highlands and Islands
  • Historical Archaeology research with a focus on combining place-names, folklore, archival sources with landscape archaeology
  • The Northern Isles in the early modern period
  • British Mesolithic material culture
  • Prehistoric osseous technologies
  • The contemporary archaeology/politics of prehistory
  • Creative approaches to sound in archaeology
  • Later prehistoric landscapes in northern Scotland
  • The use of experiential and artistic practices in landscape archaeology
  • The integration and interpretation of remote sensing and geophysical survey data
  • Landscape approaches to the archaeology of memory and memorialisation
  • Visualisation of archaeological landscapes
  • Contemporary or historical sociolinguistics of Scandinavia or Scotland
  • Communication and interpretation of heritage
  • Contemporary public engagement with heritage and archaeology, public history, public archaeology, tourism
  • Runic inscriptions

If you are interested, please contact Professor Jane Downes to discuss your ideas and to make a formal application. 

Students at Stones of Stenness