Archaeology
About Us

Archaeology at Edinburgh has a long and distinguished history; V. Gordon Childe and Stuart Piggott formerly headed the department, one of the oldest in the UK. 

The building now occupied by Archaeology is the former Royal High School dating from 1777, whose pupils included Sir Walter Scott. Located in the heart of the city, it was recently refurbished and now provides greatly enhanced teaching, workshop and research space, including environmental and computer laboratories, a graphics studio, an extensive reference collection of European and Near Eastern archaeological material, as well as animal and fish bone reference collections.

Archaeology has a friendly and lively research atmosphere; there are weekly programmes of research seminars, lectures, and a student Archaeology Society  that organizes lectures, field trips and social events.

The City of Edinburgh is home to many professional archaeologists based in fellow institutions, including: the National Museums of Scotland (also the headquarters of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland), with their award-winning new galleries and extensive archaeological collections; the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland; Historic Scotland; as well as several independent Archaeological Units, active in field archaeology and consultancy.